Leaders of the Opposition INDIA bloc hold a virtual meeting
New Delhi:
Top leaders of the Opposition INDIA bloc held a virtual meeting on Saturday to decide what issues they should take up during the monsoon session of parliament. The meeting resembled a complaint session with many disagreements, sources said.
Here's your 10-point cheat sheet on the INDIA bloc meeting
- Communist Party of India leader D Raja indirectly objected to Congress MP Rahul Gandhi's comment on the Left's ideology in Kerala and its comparison to the BJP's ideological mentor RSS. Mr Raja said senior leaders should be mindful of limits when criticising alliance partners.
- Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray, NCP (SP) leader Sharad Pawar, and Ram Gopal Yadav demanded that such meetings be called regularly. The next meeting of the INDIA bloc could be in the first week of August, sources said.
- Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah suggested raising the issue of full statehood for the Union Territory during the parliament session. The members agreed, and also decided to raise the issue of the Pahalgam terror attack.
- Dipankar Bhattacharya demanded that the issue of the central government's anti-Maoist campaign and the Maoists' demand for a ceasefire be raised.
- The Trinamool Congress's Abhishek Banerjee asked if the Pahalgam attack was an intelligence failure, then why did the Intelligence Bureau chief get an extension? "Pegasus is being used against the Opposition, instead of terrorists. The government is trying to bring the NRC through SIR. E-squared [ED and EC] have become puppets of the government," Mr Banerjee said.
- The India bloc's 24 member parties attended the virtual meeting. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was absent, signalling a departure from the bloc's line of thinking and strategy.
- The other key attendees included Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, and Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren.
- After the meeting, Congress leader and Deputy Leader in the Rajya Sabha, Pramod Tiwari, said there was complete consensus about the concern over national security as it was being compromised in the BJP regime.
- He said the INDIA bloc has expressed concerns over the repeated claims made by US President Donald Trump that he mediated the ceasefire between India and Pakistan. He said Mr Trump has so far made the claims 24 times, while Prime Minister Narendra Modi has kept quiet and not responded.
- Mr Tiwari said INDIA bloc parties expressed their concern over SIR in Bihar. He said it was felt that there was an undeclared Emergency during which voters' names were being removed from the list.
