Sonia’s dinner pe charcha a hit; 20 parties attend

◗ Congress’ show of strength comes at a time when the ruling NDA has been hit by a crisis with the resignation of two TDP ministers from the Union Cabinet

Amid talks of an antiCongress, anti- BJP “Third Front” to take on the Modi juggernaut in 2019, the Congress Party on Tuesday managed to bring together a formidable 20 parties under its umbrella at a special dinner hosted by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi here.

Sources said the dinner meet was attended by 32 leaders, including Nationalist Congress Party supremo Sharad Pawar, Rashtriya Janata Dal’s Tejashwi Yadav and Misa Bharti, National Conference’s Omar Abdullah, CPI( M) MPs M. Salim and T. K. Rangarajan , RSP’s N. K. Premachandran, Hindustan Tribal Party chief Sharad Yadav, AIDUF’s Badruddin Ajmal, Bahujan Samaj Party’s Satish Mishra, Samajwadi Party’s Ramgopal Yadav, RLD leader Ajit Singh and DMK’s Kanhomozhi, among others.

The Congress’ show of strength comes at a time when the ruling NDA has been hit by crisis with the resignation of two Telugu Desam Party ministers from the Union Cabinet. The Telangana Rashtra Samiti has also raised the bogey of a non- Congress, non- BJP Federal Front.

Apart from showing off two additional parties in the Opposition kitty — Jiten Ram Manjhi’s Hindustan Awam Morcha and Babulal Marandi’s Jharkhand Vikas Morcha — the dinner meet is seen as an attempt by the Congress to project itself, or rather its president Rahul Gandhi, as the leader of any Opposition alliance before 2019 general elections.

Many Opposition parties, like the Mayawati- led BSP and Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamul Congress, have expressed their hesitance to be part of an alliance led by the Congress quoting the party’s dismal performance in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and several state elections thereafter.

In fact, the TMC chief, who was conspicuous by her absence on Tuesday, has pitched herself as the leader of any Opposition alliance and has begun talks with parties like the TRS and the DMK for a Third Front. The TMC was represented by Lok Sabha MP Sudip Bandopadhyay at the dinner.

Ms Mayawati has also aligned with the JD( S) in Karnataka, virtually opening a Third Front against the incumbent Congress in the state, and has tied up with the Samajwadi Party for two crucial bypolls in Uttar Pradesh, the results of which are expected on Wednesday.

Denying that there were any concrete political discussions during the dinner, Congress chief spokesperson Randeep