TMC, Sena skip I.N.D.I.A floor leaders’ dinner meet; date for top leaders' meet in 2-3 days

New Delhi: Trinamool Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) were on Wednesday conspicuous in their absence at a dinner meeting of floor leaders of I.N.D.I.A parties convened by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge here, at a time when the bloc is gearing up to announce the date for the next meeting of their leaders in the coming days.

The meeting also saw AAP leaders raising the issue of delay in holding a conclave of I.N.D.I.A leaders after September 1, while some leaders objected to partners bringing state-level disputes to the national level.

The floor leaders also decided to demand sending the three Bills to replace Indian Penal Code, Code of Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act to a joint Select Committee though it has been scrutinised once by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs. They said they have objections to the Hindi names of the Bills and wanted more public consultation.

The Opposition parties will also strongly raise concerns about a bill to constitute a Selection Committee to choose Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioners, omitting the Chief Justice of India.

Thirty-one leaders of 17 parties attended the meeting, which saw Rahul Gandhi in attendance, while the absence of two parties were explained through claims that they had informed about their inability to send their representatives.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut had earlier said that he would attend the meeting while Trinamool Congress sources emphasised that there was nothing specific to discuss at the meeting as the floor strategy for the week had been decided already. They said Trinamool would surely be attending the meeting of floor leaders on Monday.

Trinamool leaders also sought to project unity in the bloc saying that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had deputed Rajya Sabha floor leader Derek O’Brien to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Congress’ A Revanth Reddy in Hyderabad and it showed that there was no problem.

However, Sudip Bandhyopadhyay and O’Brien not attending the dinner meeting was seen as a subtle signal sent to the Congress after the latter unilaterally announced a meeting of leaders on Wednesday without consulting leaders like Trinamool supremo Mamata. Congress had then deferred the meeting and converted it to a meeting of floor leaders.

With Mamata earlier announcing that she would not be able to attend the meeting on December 6 owing to preoccupations, Trinamool leaders chose to skip the meeting in a signal to Congress. However, they too highlighted O’Brien travelling to Hyderabad as a sign of “all is well in I.N.D.I.A”, a remark made by Congress’ Jairam Ramesh in Rajya Sabha when O’Brien announced his plans to attend Revanth’s swearing-in.

Congress Working Committee member Syed Nasir Hussain told reporters after the meeting, “many issues regarding Parliament were discussed. There was a discussion about the upcoming Bills, the government's behaviour and many other things. Apart from that, it was also decided that very soon there would be a meeting of INDIA alliance leaders and will announce the date of the meeting in a day or two.”

Asked about the absence of Trinamool and Sena, he said leaders of both the parties had conveyed earlier that they would not be able to attend the meeting.

Besides the Congress, the parties that attended the meeting were DMK, RJD, SP, JD(U), NCP, AAP, CPI(M), CPI, Muslim League, MDMK, RLD, Kerala Congress (M), JMM, National Conference, RSP and VCK.