On a day when Parliamentary business stalled yet again over the demonetisation issue, the Opposition parties met to formulate a common political strategy against the Centre’s initiative to drive existing ₹500 and ₹1,000 notes out of circulation.
Regardless of the differences among them — the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have been pushing for a rollback of the scheme while the others, including the Congress, insisting on better implementation — they reflected on a unified course of action in the days to come.
Both TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal separately attacked the PM. “
Interestingly, veteran Janata Dal (United) leader Sharad Yadav was part of the Opposition meeting while his party President and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is the lone Opposition leader who has publicly welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s mammoth measure. So while Yadav engaged with other political parties on how to counter the BJP-led Government on demonetisation drive, Nitish Kumar said, “PM Modi is now riding a tiger which could damage his alliances. But there is great sentiment in favour of his move and we should respect that,” said Nitish Kumar.
Meanwhile, leaders of Congress, TMC, JD(U), BSP, CPI(M), CPI, NCP, RJD, JMM and DMK got together just before the commencement of proceedings in Parliament and decided to continue pressing for an adjournment motion in the Lok Sabha, and a debate under a rule which entails voting. The meeting was also attended by Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi.
Course of actionLeaders of these parties will hold such strategy sessions every morning before Parliament assembles during the ongoing Winter Session, sources said. It was decided that MPs of these 10 parties will stage a sit-in near Mahatma Gandhi’s statue in the Parliament complex on Wednesday. This will be followed by a march to Rashtrapati Bhawan, date for which is being worked out, the sources said.
Banerjee is expected to reach Delhi on Tuesday for the agitational programme. “This is good news that Opposition parties have decided to work together with focus on alleviating the sufferings of the people,” TMC leader Derek O’Brien said.
From the Congress, those who attended included Mallikarjun Kharge and Ghulam Nabi Azad, the party’s leaders in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha respectively. Also in attendance were the Trinamool’s Sudip Bandhyopadhyay, JD(U)’s Sharad Yadav, BSP’s Satish Mishra, CPI(M)’s Sitaram Yechury and the CPI’s D Raja.
“The PM can speak on Coldplay (a British rock band that performed in Mumbai over the weekend), but not address the Opposition on demonetisation, demands for a JPC on leakage of demonetisation information to some corporates and deaths of people standing in queue to get money from banks and ATMs,” said Mohd Salim of CPI.