Congress's swipe at NDA: Ahead of the second Opposition meeting in Bengaluru, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Monday (July 17) took a jibe at the BJP over its bid to induct key leaders from other parties and said that the saffron party is attempting to “breathe new life into NDA” which is a result of the Patna gathering of several parties on June 23.
Jairam alleged that the BJP is baffled by the Opposition converging on a single dias and therefore has called an NDA meeting on July 18 in Delhi.
The Congress leader’s remarks came ahead of the two-day brainstorming session in Bengaluru in which 26 Opposition parties will participate. Jairam’s jibe was in reference to the induction of OP Rajbhar, Jitan Ram Manjhi, and Ajit Pawar into the NDA.
“PM and BJP are baffled. After the Patna meeting (of Opposition), the PM suddenly thought of NDA. Attempts are being made to breathe new life into NDA. Suddenly, it was reported that the NDA meeting has been called for tomorrow. This is a result of the meeting in Patna,” Jairam said at a press conference here.
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He said that the Opposition meeting will be held on Tuesday and clarified that today Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will throw a banquet party in which the leaders will be getting together.
“It is being said that some senior leaders are not coming today. I want to refute this, the meeting is going to be held tomorrow.. today is only CM's banquet, the real meeting will start tomorrow at 11 am,” he said.
"Opposition united by common purpose"
Congress general secretary KC Venugopal, who was also present at the media interaction, said that the issues to be discussed at the meeting cannot be disclosed at the moment, however, added that the parties are united by a “common purpose” of protecting democracy.
“We are all united by a common purpose - to protect democracy in this country, to ensure the Constitutional rights and the independence of our institutions. These all are under attack by the present regime of the BJP Govt. They wanted to silence the Opposition's voice. They are misusing agencies to suppress the voice of the Opposition. The disqualification of Rahul Gandhi from the Parliament is one of the biggest examples of that. The incident happening in Maharashtra is also an example,” he alleged.
When asked if the UPA will get a new name after the meeting, Venugopal said, “We will take all decisions. I can't tell you now what are the issues that are going to be discussed. Congress is not deciding this alone. All the opposition parties will sit together and decide unitedly.”
Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister and state Congress president DK Shivakumar exuded confidence that the people of the country will make the Opposition victorious just like the voters of Karnataka did in the state ousting the BJP government in the Assembly elections held earlier this year.
“I think all the Opposition parties of this country, except a few, have joined together for a good beginning...This is not the meeting of an individual political party, it is shaping this country for the future of 140 crore people who are suffering on various issues...We feel that with this understanding & unity, we will take it forward and the results will come out - as Karnataka gave us a mandate, the entire country will give us a mandate in 2024. We will take it forward,” he said.
26 parties to take part in the meeting
Top leaders of the Opposition parties will be present at the Bengaluru meet including Congress Parliamentary party chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin, Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren and AAP's Arvind Kejriwal and former Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray.
The other parties which will join are RLD, CPI(M), CPI, AIFB, CPI-ML, RSP, VCK, National Conference, JKPDP, IUML, Kerala Congress (J), Kerala Congress (Mani), MDMK, KMDK, Apna Dal (K) and MMK.
(With ANI inputs)
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