Opposition MPs protest against the Bihar SIR in the Parliament premises during the ongoing Monsoon Session. (Inset: AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal with ex-Delhi CM Atishi).
Credit: PTI Photos
New Delhi: The ongoing protest against Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar and other states is bringing estranged ally AAP closer to the Opposition bloc. The protests against SIR got a further push after Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi hosted a dinner for alliance leaders where the issue dominated the conversations.
After AAP joined a joint press conference with Congress and others this week, the I.N.D.I.A bloc is now going extra mile to accommodate the Arvind Kejriwal-led party to ensure its participation in the march to the Election Commission (EC) on Monday by projecting it as an ‘Opposition march’ and not one by the alliance. AAP had quit the bloc following its opposition to Congress.
Sources said Congress and Trinamool Congress, among others, are of the view that they should not create obstacles for parties like AAP joining the protest march by MPs from Parliament to 'Nirvachan Sadan' on August 11. I.N.D.I.A MPs have been holding protests every day in the Parliament House against SIR.
To make it easy for AAP to join the protest, a senior leader said they were calling their protest an ‘Opposition march’. This was conveyed to AAP and they have agreed to join the protest march, the leader said. So far, AAP had not been part of the Parliament House protests.
Sources said the dinner hosted by Rahul hours after his press conference claiming ‘vote theft’ has become a rallying point against SIR. At the meeting, sources said the leaders discussed how to take it forward, as RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav briefly mentioned the Bihar scenario.
Rahul and Trinamool Congress Abhishek Banerjee had a brief discussion about SIR during which the latter indicated that they should take the protests in Parliament to the ground level and also find means to sustain the momentum till at least year end, sources said.
With Rahul making a presentation of how ‘vote theft’ took place in one of the Karnataka Assembly segments during Lok Sabha polls, sources said the conversations centred around SIR, which several opposition leaders felt was an exercise aimed at tailoring the electoral rolls to favour the ruling BJP.
Fixing its eyes on the issue, the Opposition did not divert its attention from the SIR protest in Parliament though the US imposing tariff dominated the headlines in the past couple of days, as per sources.
Rahul is learnt to have told a group of leaders that they should not fall for the narratives in the media, as it is “controlled” by the government, and should stick to their issues.