Opposition parties unite, say Karnataka and Goa crises assault on statute

Claiming that the political crises in Karnataka and Goa were a threat to democracy, opposition lawmakers, including Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, held a protest in the Parliament complex on Thursday. Apart from Congress, others present present at the protest were Trinamool Congress, Samajwadi Party, NCP, RJD and CPI.
Hitting out at BJP for defections in the two states, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said, “This is an assault on the Constitution and murder of democracy. Is BJP looking to make India a one-party state?”
Meanwhile, Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee — stung by TMC legislators and councillors defecting to BJP — spoke to her Karnataka counterpart H D Kumaraswamy and urged him to hold his ground and “not give in to the efforts of BJP”, sources said. Banerjee, stung by TMC legislators and councillors joining BJP, called up Kumaraswamy on Wednesday and spoke to him about the political crisis in his state, sources said, adding that during the conversation, she suggested a joint protest by opposition parties in Parliament on Thursday.
It was decided that the protest should be led by a party other than Congress as the grand old party, which is embroiled in a leadership crisis, could fail to unite the opposition, sources said. Anand Sharma (Congress) CPI’s D Raja, RJD’s Manoj Jha, TMC’s Sudeep Bandyopadhyay and Dola Sen, NCP’s Majid Memon and SP’s Azam Khan were among the protestors.