AAP joins presser by Oppn parties against SIR despite not being part of I.N.D.I.A.

New Delhi: AAP may have left I.N.D.I.A. bloc but the Arvind Kejriwal-led party on Wednesday joined a joint press conference by Opposition parties, including Congress, against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar and other states.

AAP General Secretary (Organisation) and senior MP Sandeep Pathak addressed the press conference in the presence of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress General Secretary (Organisation) KC Venugopal, Samajwadi Party's Javed Ali Khan, DMK's Tiruchi Siva, RJD's Manoj K Jha, CPI(M)'s John Brittas and CPI's P Sandosh Kumar among others.

Earlier in the day, I.N.D.I.A. MPs staged a protest march inside Parliament complex with a banner reading 'Discussion not Deletion'. AAP MPs did not participate in this march.

Pathak said the Monsoon Session of Parliament so far has been a washout and the entire Opposition demands a discussion on SIR. He said people need an answer to why the SIR is being conducted as only months ago a summary revision has taken place. He also said the timeline provided for the process is less and that collecting the documents sought by the Election Commission is practically impossible.

After Delhi Assembly elections, AAP has started keeping a distance from the I.N.D.I.A. bloc as the alliance leader Congress had fought against it. AAP announced expansion plans and have been aggressively active in Gujarat and other states. The party also did not attend an online meeting of I.N.D.I.A. leaders on July 19 as it announced that it is not part of the I.N.D.I.A. bloc anymore.

AAP has also not been attending I.N.D.I.A. floor leaders meeting to finalise Parliamentary strategy, though it has been part of the Opposition protest against the SIR inside the House. However, the party has not participated in the protest by I.N.D.I.A. in Parliament House complex.

A senior leader said that nothing much should be read into the AAP presence, as the party "has always been cooperating" with the larger Opposition plans, also when it had trouble with Congress.

Kharge, who is also the Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha, said the I.N.D.I.A. bloc is united in their demand for a discussion on SIR but the government is "unwilling". He said everything under the sun can be discussed in Parliament, as he rebutted remarks that the functioning of the Election Commission cannot be discussed in the House as it is an independent constitutional body.

Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha Deputy Leader Sagarika Ghose said they will continue protests inside and outside Parliament and also raise concerns over "attacks" on Bengali-speaking people in BJP-ruled states.

Senior Congress MP K C Venugopal said, "The government is not even ready for discussion on this issue in Parliament. The EC is going to take away the voting rights of the common citizens of this country -- downtrodden, marginalised people. We believe that it is our duty to raise this issue in Parliament but there is no avenue for a discussion. If this cannot be discussed in Parliament, where would it be discussed?"

CPI(M) Rajya Sabha floor leader John Brittas alleged that the Modi government has been resorting to "sabotaging" opposition-led governments in states and from there it has gone to "sabotaging the voters list".