UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi has decided to take the lead in consolidating the opposition and has called the respective parties for a meeting on May 23, the day the results of the national election will be declared. Mrs Gandhi has written to several opposition leaders, including DMK chief MK Stalin, Janata Dal Secular, Sharad Pawar's NCP and the Uttar Pradesh opposition alliance partners, Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav, according to sources. Sonia Gandhi has so far kept a low profile with the initiative to push for campaigning for the Congress given to her son and party chief Rahul Gandhi and his sister, the party's eastern Uttar Pradesh in-charge, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
The opposition also tore into the BJP today, questioning the Model Code of Conduct, after the Election Commission cut short campaigning in West Bengal for the last round of the national election. Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala termed the Model Code of Conduct as the "Modi Code of Misconduct".
The Election Commission took this step after violence broke out during Amit Shah's rally in Bengal capital Kolkata. The clashes ended with vandals destroying a bust of iconic 19th century reformer Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar. The BJP and Trinamool Congress proceeded to trade charges against each other of inciting the violence and desecrating the statue of the social reformer, widely revered by Bengalis.
Amit Shah termed the violence during his roadshow as a part of a "conspiracy", while Trinamool leader Derek O' Brien in turn called the BJP chief "pukeworthy" and "dhokebaaz".