Oppn divided as Left, JD(U) back out of Congress meet against note ban
New Delhi: The Congress’ attempt to unify the Opposition over the notes ban issue seems to be falling apart, with the Left stating its unwillingness to attend a meeting and a joint press conference headed by Sonia Gandhi, and the Janata Dal (United) expressing doubts.
Sonia Gandhi has invited Opposition parties across the board and the Congress hopes for a big show of strength in a meeting on Tuesday to attack the government over demonetisation and the ‘personal corruption of the PM’.
JD(U) leader KC Tyagi said his party had not yet decided whether to attend or not, but said it would first like to know what the agenda was. He said there appeared to be no ‘common minimum programme’ decided on. The JD(U) has actually supported demonetisation, while expressing concerns about its implementation.
"We have decided to stay away from the press conference of opposition parties convened by the Congress because there has been no proper consultation and coordination among the parties," CPI (M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury told a press conference in Kolkata.
"Most of the parties were neither consulted nor informed about what will be the agenda of the meeting. Several opposition parties have reservation about the way the meeting has been convened," Yechury said.
Yechury said that a few days ago he had received a call from the Congress leadership inviting him to the press conference on December 27.
"But when I wanted to know what will be the agenda of the meeting, plan of action and whether all opposition parties have been called, I didn't receive any answer," Yechury said.
On being asked if the decision to stay away would not provide ammunition to the BJP camp, Yechury said," When you want to take the opposition unity of 16 parties from a
Parliament level to a political level then you need to hold consultation and discussion with the political leadership. A decision should be taken on the basis of proper consultation. That was not done, which is unfortunate," the veteran leader said.
He noted that in order to take forward the unity of opposition parties, references should be taken from the efforts that the CPI(M) has taken during the 1996 United Front government and UPA-I government.
Yechury wondered why only the Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee was invited to the press conference and Chief Ministers of Tripura, Bihar, and the NCP leadership were not properly consulted.
"Why are you only inviting Chief Minister of West Bengal and not calling CMs of Bihar, Tripura and other states which have non-BJP governments?" he questioned.
