West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s call for a UPA-free alliance of Opposition parties in Maharashtra seems to have ruffled some feathers. On Tuesday, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi called a meeting of Opposition leaders from across parties including Sharad Pawar’s NCP, Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena. Leaders from DMK and NC were also part of the meeting. According to reports, Gandhi met the leaders to discuss strategies for their parties working together.
The meeting was attended by top leaders like NCP’s Sharad Pawar, T.R. Baalu from DMK, NC chief Farooq Abdullah and Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and CPI(M)'s Sitaram Yechury were also present at the meeting among others. Representatives of TMC were, however, missing from the meeting.
While the meeting comes in the backdrop of Banerjee’s onslaught against the UPA during her recent visit to Maharashtra, it also comes at a time when the issue of the suspension of MPs was heating up.
As many as 12 MPs were suspended by the Rajya Sabha during the ongoing Winter Parliament earlier in December. These include Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi and Trinamool MP Dona Sen among others. Other TMC and Sena as well as several Congress MP’s were suspended. The action was taken against alleged indiscipline by the suspended MPs who created a ruckus in the Upper House.
On December 14, Opposition MPs took out a march in Delhi demanding that the suspension be revoked. The march saw participation from Rahul Gandhi who called the suspension an attack on free voices. "Wherever the Opposition is trying to raise issues, they are suppressed. The government does not allow us to raise issues. This is the murder of democracy," Gandhi said during the protest march.
Following the meeting with Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday, DMK’s T Baloo said that the issue of the suspension of MPs was discussed in the meeting. According to reports, Gandhi discussed a joint Parliamentary strategy in Parliament with the Opposition leaders, who met Gandhi at her Janpath residence. More such meetings are expected in the coming days. Gandhi had also invited Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray and DMK chief MK Stalin. While the duo did not join the meeting, both deputed leaders for the meeting. According to a report in NDTV, no invitation was extended to TMC.
The apparent snub may come as a further indication of the growing distance between TMC and Congress.
The meeting comes days after TMC Chief Mamata Banerjee met Opposition leaders like Pawar in Maharashtra to shore up support for her anti-BJP Opposition alliance ahead of the 2024 general elections. "What UPA? There is no UPA," Banerjee told reporters in Mumbai after a meeting with NCP chief Sharad Pawar earlier in the month.
TMC, which is trying to expand its footprint across India by contesting state elections against BJP as well as Congress in states like Goa, has been throwing an open challenge to Congress as a potential leader of Opposition Unity.
TMC was not the only party to be left out of the Opposition strategy meet. Akhilesh Yadav's SP, Mayawati's BSP and Arvind Kejriwal's AAP were also missing.
While the TMC's attempts to put together an alliance sans-Congress may be gaining traction in the media, the Outlook previously reported how the Shiv Sena was still cosying up to Congress with the party making attempts to galvanise the latter into action.
