Opposition parties were disunited and fought against each other on the last day of the 16th Lok Sabha but barely a few kilometres away from Parliament, at Jantar Mantar it was all unity.
All parties shared the stage and voiced their dissent against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal helmed the rally in the Capital, but it was veteran leader Sharad Pawar who got senior leaders like Dr Farooq Abdullah, Sharad Yadav of Loktantrik Janata Dal and Ram Gopal Yadav of Samajwadi Party to attend the event,
Pawar was at the centre of meetings and discussions through the day and right into late evening.
Rahul Gandhi focussed on Rafale during his party’s briefing during the day, but earlier, he met Pawar at his residence along with KC Venugopal, AICC General Secretary (Organisation) and leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge.
Later in the evening, all opposition leaders convened at Pawar’s residence on Janpath. This motley group had in attendance Chandrababu Naidu, Mamata Banerjee, Sudip Bandopadhyay, Abdullah, Kejriwal, Sanjay Singh and senior NCP leader Praful Patel.
Just after Abdullah and Kejriwal left Pawar’s residence, Gandhi entered Pawar’s residence prompting the two leaders to turn back.
Gandhi was at Pawar’s residence to hold discussions with Mamata, Kejriwal, Naidu, Abdullah and Patel over the maintaining opposition unity.
Meanwhile, it is learnt that Banerjee spoke to Sonia Gandhi, registering her displeasure over the arguments in Lok Sabha between Chowdhury and TMC members.
“The target for all of us is to fight the assault on Indian institutions being carried out by the Modi government. We have all agreed that we will start the process of a common minimum programme,” said Rahul Gandhi.
