5 min readNew DelhiMar 31, 2023 02:31 AM IST
First published on: Mar 30, 2023 at 03:01 PM IST
At a time when efforts are being made to shore up Opposition unity, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin will host a conclave on social justice on Monday that will be attended by the leaders of several non-BJP parties.
Among those invited are the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) that have so far chosen to remain outside the larger umbrella of the Opposition, sources said on Thursday. But the YSRCP denied it had been invited and said it would not attend the event. The BJD also did not say if it would participate. Most Opposition parties have argued in private that the ruling parties of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh largely prefer staying close to the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and avoid upsetting the BJP at the national level.
A leader of a party that will attend the conclave said the invitations were an outcome of the Opposition’s approach to forge closer ties “one step at a time”. He said the BJD would be represented by the party’s Rajya Sabha MP Sasmit Patra.
When contacted, Patra said he cannot comment on whether the BJD would attend the conclave. “I have no information regarding my participation,” he said. YSRCP insiders said no one from the party would attend the DMK event.
The theme of the conclave is “Taking Social Justice in India Forward” on which Stalin will be the keynote speaker. Leaders of the other parties will also be provided slots to speak at the meeting that is being organised under the banner of All India Federation for Social Justice, which as a concept was floated by Stalin in January.
The source said the parties that had confirmed participation at the DMK-led meeting so far include Congress, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Trinamool Congress (TMC), Samajwadi Party (SP), YSRCP, BJD, National Conference (NC), Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), Communist Party of India (CPI), CPI (Marxist), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), and Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK). The JMM will be represented by Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, RJD by Bihar Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav, while former Uttar Pradesh CM Akhilesh Yadav has also confirmed his participation.
“The Opposition unity will take shape one step at a time if the graciousness on display over the last few days, inside and outside the Parliament, remains. Each Opposition party can take lead on an issue or another. In the case of social justice, it was naturally the turn of the DMK,” said an Opposition leader.
The BJP at present is turning up the heat on Odisha CM and BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik on matters of governance and law and order in the state. Patnaik had met West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee last Sunday.
A TMC leader said Banerjee herself was unlikely to attend the meeting, which will be held in a hybrid mode, as she is scheduled to chair district review meetings on Monday. The party’s Rajya Sabha floor leader Derek O’Brien has been deputed to be its representative.
The signs of heightened coordination in the Opposition ranks have been visible during the ongoing Parliament session, which is on the verge of a washout over the demands to set up a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) investigation into the allegations against the Adani Group and the disqualification of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi as a Lok Sabha MP.
While the TMC did not join the chorus for a JPC, with the party demanding a Supreme Court-monitored inquiry instead, it joined floor coordination meetings chaired by Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and other Opposition protests after the disqualification of Gandhi following his conviction by a Surat court in a defamation case.
Last Friday, 14 Opposition parties moved the SC alleging “selective and targeted” use of central probe agencies like the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) against their leaders. The court has agreed to hear the plea on April 5. The parties are BRS, AAP, TMC, JMM, Janata Dal (United), RJD, SP, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), NC, NCP, Congress, CPM, CPI, and DMK.
The theme of the conclave is “Taking Social Justice in India Forward” on which Stalin will be the keynote speaker. Leaders of the other parties will also be provided slots to speak at the meeting that is being organised under the banner of All India Federation for Social Justice, which as a concept was floated by Stalin in January. (Twitter/@CMOTamilnadu)
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