The high-profile opposition assembly lastly concluded in Patna on Friday night, however not with out some fissures and friction. As all of the leaders from 17 political events got here out for a press convention post-meeting, Arvind Kejriwal and his fellow AAP leaders have been lacking from the dias.
AAP vs Congress: The Bridge Widens
Amidst the assembly, the connection between the Aam Aadmi Occasion (AAP) and the Congress took a flip for the more severe, as tensions escalated. Delhi Chief Minister and AAP Nationwide Convener Arvind Kejriwal began by asking Congress leaders to challenge a clarification on the stance on the ordinance handed by the Narendra Modi cupboard towards the Delhi authorities.
Congress President, Mallikarjun Kharge, in his response, asserted that this choice will solely be taken after an intensive dialogue with different leaders through the parliamentary session.
The response irked Kejriwal who has been rising impatient concerning the lack of Congress decisiveness on the matte for the previous few weeks. As the strain grew, different leaders intervened to calm the surroundings.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee proposed a harmonious answer to the conflicting leaders, suggesting they convene at a future event over tea and biscuits in Delhi to resolve the difficulty.
Bihar Chief Minister and host Nitish Kumar additionally reiterated that this isn’t the precise place for the dialogue on the ordinance and requested Kejriwal to sideline the difficulty for now. Nonetheless, these efforts didn’t bear any fruit as AAP conveyed a transparent message indicating an extra decline of their strained ties with Congress.
In a tweet from the official deal with, AAP has said that except Congress publicly condemns the just lately issued ordinance by the central authorities, it could pose vital challenges for the AAP to interact in any alliance that features the venerable political get together.
The official AAP assertion learn “The obvious silence of the Congress raises suspicions about its actual intention. In private discussions, Congress leaders have hinted that they could informally abstain from voting within the parliament. By abstaining from voting on this matter, Congress will inadvertently assist the BJP in its relentless assault on Indian democracy.”
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>Our assertion on the assembly of political events on June 23, 2023, in Patna.<a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/OppositionMeeting?src=hash&ref_src=twsrcpercent5Etfw”>#OppositionMeeting</a> <a href=”https://t.co/Mb3u1G75Cf”>pic.twitter.com/Mb3u1G75Cf</a></p>— AAP (@AamAadmiParty) <a href=”https://twitter.com/AamAadmiParty/standing/1672204323252768773?ref_src=twsrcpercent5Etfw”>June 23, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>
The assertion additional added, “Except the Congress overtly condemns the Black Ordinance and publicly declares that every one 31 of its Rajya Sabha MPs will oppose the ordinance, it should pose challenges for the AAP to interact in upcoming conferences of like-minded events wherein the Congress is a participant.”
Congress and Nationwide Convention Hits Again at AAP
Congress didn’t maintain again both within the assembly. Congress president Kharge introduced a set of newspaper clippings containing ‘provocative statements made by the Aam Aadmi Occasion, together with the current allegations made by AAP’s spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar concerning the grand previous get together having a consensus with BJP on the ordinance.
Sources added, “Kharge questioned the AAP, asking why they selected to make such provocative statements only a day earlier than the assembly.”
Sources additionally quoted KC Venugopal as saying, “You can not maintain a gun to somebody’s head.”
J&Ok’s former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah additionally hit out at Kejriwal questioning his help for the central authorities’s invoice on scrapping articles 370 and 35A from Jammu and Kashmir.
Supply: PTI
In response to sources, “Abdullah questioned, ‘You maintained silence on Article 370, why didn’t you increase your voice concerning that matter?’”
Whereas Kejriwal stayed mum on the Article 370 query, he asserted that his get together now stands fully towards the Modi authorities and expects different opposition events to do the identical.
What Else Occurred on the Opposition Assembly?
The assembly began round 12:30 pm, an hour late from the scheduled time, at Nitish Kumar’s residence in Patna and went on for nearly three and a half hours. All anticipated leaders have been current on the assembly. At 4:15 pm, all of the leaders addressed the media giving minimal particulars about what was mentioned within the assembly whereas revealing that the subsequent assembly will happen in Shimla subsequent month.
Supply: ANI
Beginning with Nitish Kumar, all of the leaders, together with Rahul Gandhi, Mamata Banerjee, Sitaram Yechury, Dipankar Bhattacharya, Hemant Soren, and Akhilesh Yadav talked about combating the BJP collectively by nominating just one candidate from the whole opposition on each LS seat towards the NDA candidates.
Lalu Yadav, who spoke on the final, concluded the media interplay by lightening everybody’s temper. Former Bihar Chief Minister and RJD chief mentioned, I’m now absolutely match and it’s time to make Narendra Modi match.”
Yadav candidly additionally requested Rahul Gandhi to get married. He added, “Rahul aap dulha baniye, hum log barati banege (Rahul you grow to be the groom, we will probably be in your aspect).”
Many consultants have decoded this message as an oblique indication from Lalu Yadav to make Rahul Gandhi the Prime Minister candidate of the opposition alliance.
Will the alliance truly work and can there be a consensus on a typical minimal program and a typical face? Solely time will inform.
