Can opposition parties sink their differences to put up a credible alliance to take on Modiled BJP?
A day before Valentine’s Day, a rather curious love story was taking shape in Parliament. Congress lawmaker Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury went hammer and tongs at the Trinamool Congress over its alleged involvement in the Saradha chit fund scam and the comments left Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who was also pres ent in Parliament House that day, furi ous. “I won’t forget it,” Mamata was quoted as saying when she met former Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Gandhi was quick to pacify the mercu rial Trinamool supremo. “We may acc use each other but we are still friends,” Sonia told the chief minister.
Hours later, Mamata joined Congress leaders among others in a rally, ‘Save the Constitution’, and declared that her party was ready to be part of a united Opposition to take on the Narendra Mod-led BJP in the Lok Sabha polls. The same day, Mamata attended another Opposition meeting along with Congress president Rahul Gandhi at the house of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Sharad Pawar. The agenda was the same: opposition unity to defeat the BJP.
This story is from the March 04, 2019 edition of Outlook.
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This story is from the March 04, 2019 edition of Outlook.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
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