The high-profile opposition meeting finally concluded in Patna on Friday evening, but not without some fissures and friction. As all the leaders from 17 political parties came out for a press conference post-meeting, Arvind Kejriwal and his fellow AAP leaders were missing from the dias.
AAP vs Congress: The Bridge Widens
Amidst the meeting, the relationship between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress took a turn for the worse, as tensions escalated. Delhi Chief Minister and AAP National Convener Arvind Kejriwal started by asking Congress leaders to issue a clarification on the stance on the ordinance passed by the Narendra Modi cabinet against the Delhi government.
Congress President, Mallikarjun Kharge, in his response, asserted that this decision will only be taken after a thorough discussion with other leaders during the parliamentary session.
The response irked Kejriwal who has been growing impatient about the lack of Congress decisiveness on the matte for the past few weeks. As the tension grew, other leaders intervened to calm the environment.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee proposed a harmonious solution to the conflicting leaders, suggesting they convene at a future occasion over tea and biscuits in Delhi to resolve the issue.
Bihar Chief Minister and host Nitish Kumar also reiterated that this is not the right place for the discussion on the ordinance and asked Kejriwal to sideline the issue for now. However, these efforts didn’t bear any fruit as AAP conveyed a clear message indicating a further decline in their strained ties with Congress.
In a tweet from the official handle, AAP has stated that unless Congress publicly condemns the recently issued ordinance by the central government, it would pose significant challenges for the AAP to engage in any alliance that includes the venerable political party.
The official AAP statement read “The apparent silence of the Congress raises suspicions about its real intention. In personal discussions, Congress leaders have hinted that they might informally abstain from voting in the parliament. By abstaining from voting on this matter, Congress will inadvertently help the BJP in its relentless attack on Indian democracy.”
The statement further added, “Unless the Congress openly condemns the Black Ordinance and publicly declares that all 31 of its Rajya Sabha MPs will oppose the ordinance, it will pose challenges for the AAP to engage in upcoming meetings of like-minded parties in which the Congress is a participant.”
Congress and National Conference Hits Back at AAP
Congress didn’t hold back either in the meeting. Congress president Kharge presented a collection of newspaper clippings containing ‘provocative statements made by the Aam Aadmi Party, including the recent allegations made by AAP’s spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar about the grand old party having a consensus with BJP on the ordinance.
Sources added, “Kharge questioned the AAP, asking why they chose to make such provocative statements just a day before the meeting.”
Sources also quoted KC Venugopal as saying, “You cannot hold a gun to someone’s head.”
J&K’s former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah also hit out at Kejriwal questioning his support for the central government’s bill on scrapping articles 370 and 35A from Jammu and Kashmir.
Source: PTI
According to sources, “Abdullah questioned, ‘You maintained silence on Article 370, why didn’t you raise your voice regarding that matter?'”
While Kejriwal stayed mum on the Article 370 question, he asserted that his party now stands completely against the Modi government and expects other opposition parties to do the same.
What Else Happened at the Opposition Meeting?
The meeting started around 12:30 pm, an hour late from the scheduled time, at Nitish Kumar’s residence in Patna and went on for almost three and a half hours. All expected leaders were present at the meeting. At 4:15 pm, all the leaders addressed the media giving minimum details about what was discussed in the meeting while revealing that the next meeting will take place in Shimla next month.
Source: ANI
Starting with Nitish Kumar, all the leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, Mamata Banerjee, Sitaram Yechury, Dipankar Bhattacharya, Hemant Soren, and Akhilesh Yadav talked about fighting the BJP together by nominating only one candidate from the entire opposition on every LS seat against the NDA candidates.
Lalu Yadav, who spoke at the last, concluded the media interaction by lightening everyone’s mood. Former Bihar Chief Minister and RJD chief said, I am now fully fit and it’s time to make Narendra Modi fit.”
Yadav candidly also asked Rahul Gandhi to get married. He added, “Rahul aap dulha baniye, hum log barati banege (Rahul you become the groom, we will be on your side).”
Many experts have decoded this message as an indirect indication from Lalu Yadav to make Rahul Gandhi the Prime Minister candidate of the opposition alliance.
Will the alliance actually work and will there be a consensus on a common minimum program and a common face? Only time will tell.
