At Opposition meet, Congress isolated on paper leaks before conceding

Sources told The Indian Express that while the Congress wanted to focus only on the alleged theft of Ram Temple donations, other parties insisted that the Opposition also take up the issue of paper leaks and the march by protesters from Jantar Mantar to Parliament. The Congress eventually agreed. The meeting was held in Rajya Sabha Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge’s chamber.

“The Congress wanted to keep its focus only on the Ram Temple donation issue. But all the other parties, including the Samajwadi Party, Trinamool Congress (TMC), NCP (SP) and the Left parties, were of the view that the issue of paper leaks must be raised in both Houses. The Congress then conceded and agreed to the demand after seeing the rest of the Opposition on the same page,” an MP present at the meeting said.

Another Opposition MP present at the meeting said, “Finally, all parties are on the same page. The Congress, which was initially hesitant about raising the issue of the protest by CJP, conceded and a broad agreement was reached.”

The meeting was attended by Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, TMC Rajya Sabha Deputy Leader Sagarika Ghose, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut, SP MP Dharmendra Yadav, CPI(M)’s John Brittas and CPI’s P Sandosh Kumar, among others.

Monday’s meeting came a day after high drama at the all-party meeting convened by the government, where Opposition parties walked out over the invitation extended to the “rebel TMC” faction, which has merged with the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI).