Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal on Monday hosted a dinner meeting with a slew of Opposition leaders in attendance. The event reportedly saw top members of over a dozen parties reaffirmed their commitment to strengthen the opposition unity and defeat the BJP in the 2022 UP assembly polls and the 2024 general elections.
There were several unusual invitees, with former BJP ally Shiromani Akali Dal attending for the first time (Naresh Gujral was present) and Naveen Patnaik's Biju Janata Dal being represented by Pinaki Mishra and Amar Patnaik. 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, DMK's Tiruchi Siva and TK Elangovan, RLD's Jayant Chaudhary and leaders of TRS and TDS also attended the dinner meet.
While some reports quoted sources to suggest that the meeting had nothing to do with politics, others dubbed it an extension of the Opposition regrouping ahead of the crucial Assembly polls next year.
According to reports, the leaders had reasserted the need to defeat the BJP in the 2022 UP polls and the 2024 General elections. Contending that the BJP had "destroyed democracy", they also emphasised the need to present an united front and fight the other party together. As per a PTI report, the Opposition leaders also lauded the efforts of the Group of 23 leaders in strengthening the Congress.
While their end goal may be the same, the Opposition leaders appeared to differ in their plan of action. According to an NDTV report, Gujral had mounted a scathing attack against the Congress contending that it would be very difficult to strengthen the party as long as the Gandhis controlled it.
Last year, a group of Congress leaders had written to Congress chief Sonia Gandhi seeking an organisational overhaul. The dinner which coincided with a year of the letter which took the party by storm, was attended by almost all members of the 'Group of 23' as they had come to be known. It is pertinent to note that the demands of the letter are yet to be implemented, as Sonia Gandhi continues to be the interim President and Rahul Gandhi calling the shots in the decision making process. The latter was not present at the meeting.
The Congress leaders attending the dinner rejected any speculation that it was related to party's internal functioning but said they want strong opposition unity ahead of 2024 elections.
(With inputs from agencies)
