Congress President Sonia Gandhi has spoken to a bevy of senior Opposition leaders, including Sharad Pawar, Mamata Banerjee, Uddhav Thackeray, Hemant Soren and M K Stalin, inviting them for a meeting aimed at consolidating the opposition unity. No date has been finalised yet for the meeting, sources said. Sonia Gandhi, who had been keeping away from Parliament and avoiding public engagements, attended House proceedings on 10 August and 11 August. Sonia Gandhi also attended the customary tea gathering, hosted by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, along with Leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and leaders of the Trinamool Congress, Akali Dal, YSR Congress and BJD were also present. From the Sources it has come to light that the Speaker has urged all parties to co-operate with the functioning of the house in future. Over 15 opposition parties have put up a united front in parliament in the monsoon session, which barely functioned because of disruptions and protests over issues like the Pegasus snooping scandal, the rising fuel prices and the farmers’ agitation over three central laws. Sonia Gandhi’s efforts suggest that it is an attempt to ensure the Congress’s pivotal role in opposition unity and moves to take on the ruling BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
WILL NATIONAL POLITICS FORCE AKHILESH TO TIE UP WITH CONGRESS IN UP?
Congress’s UP leaders had, until recently, aspired of a dramatic revival, even talking of forming the government with Priyanka Gandhi Vadra being projected as the CM candidate. Their dreams have now been undone and Congress is looking for an alliance in the upcoming assembly elections in 2022. Many UP leaders privately concede that the situation is not good, even though an organisational machinery has been put in place across the state. UP Congress leaders say if Priyanka contests the assembly election in UP, then only Congress has a chance to cross over 50 seats in the state. The Congress hopes an alliance with Samajwadi Party will be beneficial for both and the BJP can then easily be kicked out of power. Even Priyanka doesn’t ruled out the possibility of an alliance. While SP Chief Akhilesh Yadav has expressed willingness to tie up with smaller parties like RLD, he has so far avoided mentioning the Congress as a potential alliance partner, perhaps fearing a repeat of the disastrous 2017 Assembly results. However, realpolitik means that the show of opposition unity during the parliamentary session is bound to bring all parties under pressure to form a coalition in the UP assembly elections in 2022.
CAPTAIN TAKES HIS SIDHU GRUDGE TO SONIA, ASKED TO BRIDGE THE GAP
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has recently met Congress president Sonia Gandhi and raised the issue of Navjot Singh Sidhu’s continued attacks on the Congress government in the state. He has also discussed the political situation in Punjab and a possible cabinet expansion. Sonia Gandhi reportedly stressed that the Chief Minister and Navjot Singh Sidhu must work together and bridge the communication gap, if any. All India Congress Committee general secretary in-charge of Punjab affairs Harish Rawat was present at the meeting. Sources said Amarinder Singh gave an account of the action taken by the state government on the 18 issues raised by the AICC panel headed by senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge. Meanwhile, Amarinder Singh also hosted a dinner for some of the Punjab MPs. Those present included Anandpur Sahib MP Manish Tewari, former law minister Ashwani Kumar, MPs Santokh Chaudhry, and Preneet Kaur (the chief minister’s wife) and cabinet minister Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi.
CONGRESS’S ANTI-BJP MARCH IN UP SEES SENIOR LEADERS ENTHUSE CADRES
Gearing up for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls in 2022, the Congress in Uttar Pradesh organised a state-wide ”BJP gaddi chhodo” march on the occasion of August Kranti Diwas. The Congress workers marched for about 4 kms in all the 403 assembly constituencies in the state. On the lines of Mahatma Gandhi’s Quit India movement, the Congress two-day protest march against the misgovernance and anti-people policies of the BJP government held in various districts and marches were taken out. Meanwhile, the Congress on August 11 constituted its election committee for Uttar Pradesh, which includes state unit chief Ajay Kumar Lallu and former Union ministers Salman Khurshid, Former UPCC President Mohsina Kidwai, CLP leader Aradhana Mona Misra, CWC Member Rajeev Shukla, Former CLP leader Pramod Tiwari, CWC Member R P N Singh, CWC Member Vivek Bansal and Former MPs Rajesh Mishra, Rajaram Pal, Rakesh Sachan, Begum Noor Bano, Zafar Ali Naqvi, Harendra Malik, Rashid Alvi, Mohd Muqeem, Naseemuddin Siddique and the party’s 2019 Lok Sabha candidate from Lucknow Acharya Pramod Krishnam are also part of the panel. AICC secretaries Imran Masood, Brijlal Khabri, Sudhanshu Tripathi, B P Singh and Jitendra Baghel are also among those included. While Congress general secretary in-charge of UP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who had visited Lucknow last month said that her party had an open mind on alliance in UP. Although the party high command favoured an alliance, some senior UP leaders wanted the party to go solo in the polls.
KAPIL SIBAL DINNER PARTY HELPS SENIOR OPPOSITION LEADERS UNITE AGAINST BJP
Rajya Sabha MP and Congress leader, Kapil Sibal, hosted a birthday dinner which in turn became a rallying point for the opposition against Narendra Modi government. According to sources, the need to strengthen the Opposition was discussed thoroughly, as well as the matter of building forces to defeat the BJP in Uttar Pradesh in 2022 and Lok Sabha in 2024. Kapil Sibal said: “This conversation will only strengthen the Congress since the idea is to come together against a government that is destroying the idea of India.” The opposition leaders who were present included Nationalist Congress Party’s Sharad Pawar, Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Yadav, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Raut, Trinamool’s Derek O’Brien, Sitaram Yechury (CPM), D Raja (CPI), Tiruchi Siva (DMK), Sanjay Singh (AAP) Naresh Gujral of Akali Dal, Pinaki Mishra of BJD, Omar Abdullah of National Conference and RLD, TDP, YSRCP and P Chidambaram. Congress leaders who attended the dinner party included most of the G-23 leaders who had written a letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi last year asking for an overhaul in the party’s organisation and leadership. Among those present were Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma, Manish Tewari, Shashi Tharoor and Vivek Tankha. (IPA)
Rahul Must Adopt Comprehensive Approach Towards Opposition Unity 