New Delhi | Leaders of the opposition INDIA bloc met here on Monday and decided to write to the chief justice of India on the SIR exercise and "vote loot", besides demanding the immediate resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the NEET-CBSE row.
Addressing a press conference after the meeting, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge said the opposition leaders also demanded that the Union government convene an all-party meeting to discuss the "precarious economic situation" in the country, unemployment, price rise, farmers' issues and people-centric matters.
Kharge said the INDIA bloc leaders also decided to meet every two months, with the next meeting scheduled in Hyderabad for August, the date for which will be fixed later.
According to sources, leaders of 22 opposition parties along with Independent MP Kapil Sibal attended Monday's meeting held at the Constitution Club here.
Earlier, Kharge had said that leaders of 25 opposition parties met on Monday.
Flanked by Rahul Gandhi, Akhilesh Yadav, Mamata Banerjee and other senior leaders of the grouping at the presser, Kharge said, "We have agreed on five issues. A letter would be sent to the chief justice of India (CJI) soon on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, 'vote loot' and 'stealing of elections'.
"It was also unanimously agreed to demand the immediate resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan because he presided over the betrayal of lakhs of youth who appeared in NEET and CBSE," he said.
Also, the Centre should immediately call an all-party meeting to discuss the "precarious" economic situation, unemployment, price rise, farmers' issues, and "atrocities" being committed on the oppressed sections, Kharge said.
"We are going to raise many people-centric issues, which all the parties have unanimously agreed to," he said.
"It was agreed that we would meet every two months. The next meeting will be held in Hyderabad in August, the date for which will be fixed later.
"The opposition leaders also decided to continue coordination during the upcoming Monsoon Session of Parliament, with daily morning meetings at the office of the leader of opposition," he said.
The Congress veteran also said that all the opposition leaders aired their views freely at the meeting, which Shiv Sena-UBT's Uddhav Thackeray and JMM's Hemant Soren joined virtually.
The meeting was held in the backdrop of differences emerging among some of the INDIA bloc constituents.
The leaders began the deliberations to help forge unity and rework their strategy to take on the BJP, while ironing out differences within after the defeat of regional outfits Trinamool Congress and DMK in the recent Assembly polls in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, respectively.
Those in attendance included Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Kharge from the Congress, Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee from the Trinamool Congress, Akhilesh Yadav from the Samajwadi Party, Tejashwi Yadav from the RJD, Omar Abdullah from the National Conference and Mehbooba Mufti from the PDP, along with Left leaders.
NCP(SP) leader Supriya Sule, CPI(M)'s John Brittas, CPI's D Raja and leaders of some smaller parties were also part of the deliberations, while Uddhav Thackeray and Hemant Soren joined virtually.
The DMK and AAP were not part of the deliberations after having opted out of the opposition bloc. Tamil Nadu's ruling party TVK also did not attend the meeting.
Sources said those who were part of the original INDIA bloc were invited for the meeting.
Chennai | The DMK on Monday said that it was no longer part of the opposition INDIA bloc and asserted that an anti-BJP alliance may form in the future.
Confirming that the Dravidian major was not in the opposition grouping, DMK spokesperson T K S Elangovan said the decision to part ways was because of the Congress party.
The DMK's decision marked a significant political shift that it was moving away from the Congress-led coalition at the national level.
Speaking to reporters here, Elangovan claimed that several parties have already distanced themselves from the coalition, leading the DMK to choose a similar path.
"Three of our allies (Congress, IUML, VCK) are now part of the TVK government. It means that they are no longer in the INDIA bloc. The AAP has already left and we are not in that alliance now," Elangovan said.
The DMK was a policy-driven party, though it may share common goals with other parties over opposing the BJP. The party would now operate independently, basing future decisions on its own state-level committee meetings rather than collective alliance directives, the spokesperson said.
He, however, claimed that a "strong, secular, and anti-BJP alliance may form in the future" and that the DMK would monitor the decisions made by other opposition parties in Delhi to determine if there is any common ground to support, he said.
Recently, the party had announced that it would boycott the meeting of INDIA bloc constituents in New Delhi on Monday as the actions of the Congress have "deeply affected the sentiments of the DMK members."
Describing the grand old party severing ties with the DMK and joining the C Joseph Vijay-led TVK government in a post-poll alliance as "betrayal," the DMK said in a statement recently that it would respect the sentiments of its cadres and boycott today's meeting attended by the Congress.
Meanwhile, CPI state secretary M Veerapandian underscored the need to strengthen the alliance at the national level.
"We insist that the largest democratic party, DMK, should continue in the INDIA bloc. Some parties that were in the DMK alliance have left and joined the TVK government, whereas we are supporting from outside," he told reporters here.