Senior opposition leaders on Tuesday held a meeting at Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi’s house in Delhi to discuss a joint strategy to question the government in Parliament, PTI reported.
Among the leaders who met Gandhi were Nationalist Congress Party leader Sharad Pawar, National Conference patron Farooq Abdullah, Shiv Sena spokesperson Sanjay Raut and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader TR Baalu.
The leaders at the meeting urged Pawar to speak to Rajya Sabha chairman Venkaiah Naidu regarding the suspension of 12 MPs from Rajya Sabha, NDTV quoted unidentified sources as saying. The MPs were suspended on November 29 for allegedly disrupting the proceedings of the House during the Monsoon Session in August. Opposition parties have been protesting against the suspension.
Baalu told NDTV that the government should not be “so harsh” with the MPs. “After all, they are elected members of the state council,” he said. “...The government is not in the mood of making any solution. This is not correct and this needs to be dealt with immediately.”
After the meeting, Raut said that the main agenda discussed there was ensuring opposition unity in a state-wise manner, ANI reported. “This was the first meeting, we’ll meet again tomorrow, Sharad Pawar will be there,” he added.
The Trinamool Congress was not invited to the meeting, PTI quoted unidentified sources as saying. In recent months, the TMC has been seeking to expand its presence beyond West Bengal, in states such as Meghalaya, Goa and Tripura.
Last month, 12 out of 17 Congress MLAs in Meghalaya, including former Chief Minister Mukul Sangma, left the party to join the TMC.
On December 1, party chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee remarked that the United Progressive Alliance did not exist any longer. She had made the statement after meeting Pawar at his home in Mumbai.
Banerjee had said “a strong alternative” was needed to oust the BJP from power. “[We] cannot do anything about those who can’t fight,” she had said.
Reacting to Banerjee’s statement, Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal had said that it would be a dream to defeat the BJP without his party.
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