The Opposition INDIA bloc, on Monday, said it reached a consensus on five key issues after a much-hyped meeting, with leaders of all the parties agreeing to jointly pursue them in the coming months.
Addressing the media after the meeting, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said all the parties had shared their views before arriving at a consensus position.
"The INDIA alliance meeting has concluded, with 25 parties in attendance. Everyone shared their views, and subsequently, we reached a consensus on five points. We have agreed today; we will fight for these issues, work on them, and move forward," Kharge said.
The first decision was to write to the Chief Justice of India regarding the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, allegations of vote theft and concerns over election-related irregularities.
"It was agreed to send a letter to the Chief Justice of India on SIR, vote loot and stealing elections. The letter is to be delivered to the Chief Justice of India very soon," Kharge said.
The second point was a unanimous demand for the resignation of the Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, over issues and allegations relating to examinations.
"It was unanimously agreed to demand the immediate resignation of the education minister because he presided over the betrayal of lakhs of youth who appeared for NEET and CBSE examinations," he said, reported news agency ANI.
The Opposition parties also demanded that the Union government convene an all-party meeting to discuss what it described as the country's worsening economic situation, unemployment, price rise, farmers' concerns and other people-centric issues.
The fourth decision was that leaders of the INDIA bloc would meet once every two months to review developments and coordinate political action.
The fifth point related to parliamentary coordination, with the alliance deciding to continue its coordination mechanism during the upcoming monsoon session of Parliament through daily morning meetings in the office of the Leader of the Opposition.
Kharge said Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren joined the meeting virtually and endorsed the decisions taken by the alliance.
The meeting, coming against the backdrop of differences emerging among some constituents of the Opposition bloc, was held at the Constitution Club. The DMK and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) did not participate in the deliberations, while TVK was also absent. Sources said invitations were extended to parties that have Members of Parliament and were part of the original INDIA bloc.
The aim of the meeting was to strengthen unity within the alliance and evolve a common strategy to take on the BJP, while also addressing differences that surfaced after the recent assembly election defeats suffered by some regional parties.
Earlier, addressing the gathering, Kharge urged opposition leaders to reinforce unity in order to confront what he described as political, economic, social and foreign policy challenges arising from the Modi government's "misgovernance".
He also alleged that the Constitution continued to be under attack and claimed that investigative agencies were being used to harass, intimidate and pressure political opponents.
Kharge further argued that the economic situation remained difficult and said new investments were not coming at the pace required to generate sufficient employment opportunities.
