Pegasus row: Rahul Gandhi's breakfast meeting with Opposition begins; AAP, BSP stay away
Over 100 Opposition leaders today attended a breakfast meeting hosted by former Congress president Rahul Gandhi at the Constitution Club where stress was laid on opposition unity. Several opposition MPs led by Rahul later cycled to Parliament to highlight the issue of fuel price hike. Some opposition MPs, who could not cycle, walked down to Parliament.
Apart from around 100 MPs of the Congress, leaders of several opposition parties including Trinamool Congress, NCP, Shiv Sena, DMK, CPI-M, CPI, RJD and Samajwadi Party attended the meeting. Leaders of JMM, JKNC besides IUML, RSP, KCM, LJD and RSP were also present at the meeting. Leaders of 17 opposition parties were invited at the breakfast meeting, but the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) did not attend. Trinamool Congress, which had skipped the last meeting of Opposition leaders by Gandhi, was also present at today's breakfast meet.
"The single motive to invite you is that we should unite. The more this voice unites, the more powerful it will become, the more difficult it will become for the BJP and RSS to suppress this voice," Rahul said at the meeting.
"We should remember the foundation of unity and it is important that now we start to come up with the principles of this foundation," he told the Opposition leaders.
After the meeting, Opposition leaders cycled to Parliament from Constitution Club to highlight the high fuel prices and express their solidarity with the people who are suffering due to the high fuel prices.
"As far as fuel prices are concerned, the people of India are struggling and if we cycle from here to Parliament, it will have an impact," Rahul said.
Besides Rahul, senior Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, KC Venugopal, Anand Sharma and P Chidambaram were present at the meeting.
The Opposition has been demanding a discussion in Parliament on the Pegasus row and its leaders have been giving adjournment notices every day. The government has been saying that the opposition is creating a "non-issue" and the IT minister has already given a reply in both Houses of Parliament.
Meanwhile, senior BJP leader and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday spoke to Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge and sought his cooperation to end the impasse in the Parliament.
Both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha have failed to transact any significant business, except passage of some bills, amid continued protests by Opposition parties over the Pegasus since the Monsoon session of Parliament commenced on July 19.
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