Opp meets on CAA, TMC, AAP stay away

The Congress was elated over as many as 20 political parties coming together here on Monday on its call as a joint forum against the Modi government.

The political parties and their representative leaders attending the strategy session at the Parliament House Annexe were:

Sharad Pawar and Praful Patel (NCP), Sitaram Yechuri (CPI (M)), D Raja (CPI), Hemant Soren (JMM), Manoj Jha (RJD), Sharad Yadav (Loktantrik Janta Dal), Raju Setty (Swabhiman Paksha), PK Kinhalikutty (IUML), Satrujeet Singh (RSP), Thomas Chazhikkadan (KCM), Sirajuddin Ajmal (AIUDF), Hasnain Masoodi (J&K National Conference), Mir Mohd Fayaz (PDP), D Kupendra Reddy (JDS), Ajit Singh (RLD), Jitan Ram Manjhi (Hindustani Awami Morcha), Upendra Kushwaha (RLSP), G Devarajan (Forward Block), and Thol Thirumavalavan (VCK).

From the Congress' side, Sonia Gandhi attended along with half a dozen senior leaders, including Dr Manmohan Singh, Rahul Gandhi, Ghulam Nabi Azad, AK Antony, Ahmed Patel and KC Venugopal.

Six major parties --the DMK, Samajwadi Party (SP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Trinamool Congress (TMC), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Shiv Sena-- choose to stay away. Despite the Shiv Sena reportedly skipping two meetings in a fortnight over the CAA/NRC convened by Congress interim chief Sonia Gandhi, leaders from all the three parties, including Nationalist Congress Party, insist that "all's well" with the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance government in Maharashtra.

The Shiv Sena Lok Sabha Parliamentary Party leader Vinayak Raut earlier said that it was "not aware" of the opposition parties meeting convened by Gandhi in the capital on Monday evening.

On the other hand, leaders in both Congress and NCP in Mumbai also said nothing is "amiss" if their third MVA ally, Shiv Sena, did not attend the meet.