New Delhi
Leaders of 14 'like-minded' opposition parties in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha on Wednesday morning held a meeting to jointly press for a debate on Pegasus spyware and farmers' demands. They disrupted proceedings of Parliament's monsoon session for the seventh day on an adamant government not allowing any debate.
None of the MPs from Trinamul Congress (TMC) could turn up as they were holding a meeting with their leader and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. This prompted pro-BJP TV media to claim cracks in the Opposition, which was shot down by its leaders in a joint press conference at Vijay Chowk on the outskirts of Parliament House complex in the afternoon.
The leaders of parties that attended the strategic meeting in Parliament House were from Congress, DMK. NCP, Shiv Sena, Samajwadi Party, RJD, CPI-M, CPI, J&K National Conference, AAP, IUML, RSP, KCM and VCK. The BSP was also missing in the meeting, but it turned up at the joint press conference.
Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi, who attended the meeting, tweeted: "Sitting with the entire opposition is extremely humbling. Amazing experience, wisdom and insight in everybody present." Rahul was the lead speaker at the joint press conference.
Accusing the Modi government of being anti-democratic, the Opposition leaders said the Modi government wants "no debate, no discussion and no democracy" on the Israeli spywhare, on the farmers agitation and on price rise.