To mark his birthday, Congress leader Kapil Sibal hosted several leaders of Opposition at his home for a dinner celebration. The event, however, soon turned into a strategy meeting for discussing an anti-BJP front. Incidentally, the Gandhis were not part of the dinner.
According to reports, the meeting saw questions about the future leadership of the party being raised. Some leaders suggested that to rejuvenate the party, the Gandhis had to quit their leadership roles in the party.
The meeting was key in a symbolic aspect as well with regard to Sibal's address, which once belonged to late CPIM veteran Harkishan Singh Surjeet. The latter is credited with single-handedly bringing Opposition parties together ahead of the 2004 elections. Now, ahead ot the 2024 elections, the address seems to once again be hosting similar meetings to foil the BJP's plans in the next polls.
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The meeting was attended by top leaders of over a dozen parties who reaffirmed their commitment to strengthen the opposition unity and defeat the BJP in the 2022 UP assembly polls and the 2024 general elections.
Group of 23
The meeting was also significant as it was attended by almost all the members of the "Group of 23". This consists of party leaders who had written to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi seeking an organisational overhaul.
"Such meetings should be organised more frequently to ensure that the unity is strengthened further. We have to defeat the BJP in Uttar Pradesh first in 2022 and then in general elections of 2024," said an opposition leader, who was present during the meet.
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Among the political heavyweights present were RJD's Lalu Prasad Yadav, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, Akhilesh Yadav and Ram Gopal Yadav of Samajwadi Party, CPI-M's Sitaram Yechury, CPI's D Raja, Omar Abdullah of National Conference and Congress leader P Chidambaram.
Sanjay Raut of Shiv Sena, Sanjay Singh of AAP, TMC leaders Kalyan Banerjee and Derek O'Brien, BJD leaders Pinaki Mishra and Amar Patnaik, DMK's Tiruchi Siva and TK Elangovan, RLD's Jayant Chaudhary and leaders of TRS and TDS were also present at the dinner meeting.
The ''Group of 23'' leaders present at the meeting included Ghulam Nabi Azad, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Anand Sharma, Mukul Wasnik, Prithviraj Chavan, Manish Tewari, Shashi Tharoor, besides Sibal who hosted the post-birthday dinner for them.
Incidentally, this was the first such engagement of Congress leaders of the ''Group of 23'' with top opposition leaders.
The sources said after the initial remarks by Sibal, all leaders said they had to get together to defeat the BJP first in UP in 2022 and then in 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
"We must fight the BJP together and remain united," a leader was quoted as saying at the meeting.
Another leader alleged that the BJP "has destroyed democracy and the democratic institutions that keep a check on the government".
"We must defeat BJP and restore democracy in the country," he said.
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They also claimed the BJP has done "nothing" for the oppressed and poor sections of society, especially during the pandemic and after. They added that the ruling party needed to be "exposed".
The opposition leaders, the sources said, also lauded the efforts of the Group of 23 leaders in strengthening the Congress.
The sources said Sibal, who is a legal luminary, succeeded in bringing so many opposition leaders together due to his personal rapport with them.
The opposition parties have been ratcheting up pressure on the government on a slew of issues like the Pegasus snooping controversy, farm laws and the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic
(With inputs from PTI)
