It was a congregation of political heavyweights from across the country, all with one plan: To materialise an anti-BJP alliance ahead of the Uttar Pradesh polls. All the usual suspects were in play. 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, Sanjay Raut of Shiv Sena, Sanjay Singh of AAP, TMC leaders Kalyan Banerjee and Derek O'Brien, DMK's Tiruchi Siva and T.K. Elangovan were all present.
Surprising inclusions were delegations from the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), YSRCP, TDP, TRS, and the Biju Janta Dal (BJD) represented by Pinaki Mishra and Amar Patnaik.
Even more surprising was the context of their meeting. The congregation was hosted by Congress leader Kapil Sibal, one of the Group of 23 (G-23) leaders who wrote a letter of defiance, asking for immediate changes, against the Congress leadership headed by Sonia Gandhi. Ostensibly, the occasion was Sibal's birthday, and top leaders of the dozen parties met to reaffirm their commitment to strengthen the opposition unity and defeat the BJP in the upcoming 2022 UP assembly polls and the 2024 general elections.
Except from former finance minister P. Chidambaram, almost all Congress leaders present in the meeting were members of the G-23 who made loud calls for organisational overhaul in the party. The G-23 leaders who participated included Ghulam Nabi Azad, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Anand Sharma, Mukul Wasnik, Prithviraj Chavan, Manish Tewari and Shashi Tharoor.
What does it mean for the Gandhis?
Why would the G-23 conduct such a gathering? Shiromani Akali Dal, for instance, would be in direct opposition to the Congress when it contests the upcoming Punjab elections.
Why the absence of the top leadership of the Congress? What does this mean for the Gandhis? Several questions were raised on the very topic in the meeting, reports claimed. According to the Indian Express, Akali Dal’s Gujral bluntly told the Congress leaders present that the “grand old party needs to free itself from the clutches of the family”, with Abdullah also mentioned the continuing turmoil in the Congress, and urged party to first get its act together.
Ostensibly, the public statements from the 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". They also claimed the BJP has done "nothing" for the oppressed and poor sections of society, especially during the pandemic and after, and the ruling the party needed to be "exposed", according to the sources. The opposition leaders, reports claimed, also lauded the efforts of the Group of 23 leaders in strengthening the Congress.
-Inputs from PTI