Big players skip Congress-Led opposition meet on Citizenship Act

Manglore Today News Network / NDTV

New Delhi, Jan 13, 2020:  Leaders from 15 political parties are attending a meeting of the opposition in parliament to discuss the contentious citizenship law, National Register of Citizens and the countrywide student protests that are gathering momentum. Six key parties are skipping the meeting, which is being held at the Parliament House.

 

Those staying away includes the Trinamool Congress, BSP, Shiv Sena, DMK, Samajwadi Party and Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party.

While Trinamool chief and Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and Mayawati declared earlier that they would skip the meeting, Congress allies DMK and Shiv Sena have also dropped out.

Sources said the DMK has been upset with the Congress’s local leaders in Tamil Nadu. Mamata Banerjee, too, dropped out over the clashes between her party workers and those of the Left and the Congress during last week’s trade union strike.

Underscoring that it was she who "mooted the idea of the meet" she said, "What happened yesterday in the state -- it is no more possible for me to attend the meeting anymore".

She was also critical of the Congress and the Left’s approach -- "What the Left and the Congress are doing in the name of the CAA-NRC is not a movement but vandalism," she said.