Opposition meet: Ordinance issue a fissure between AAP and Congress

Arvind Kejriwal did not walk out from the Opposition meeting here as AAP leaders claimed their party chief would do but his insistence on Congress making its stand on the contentious Delhi ordinance issue public on Friday itself led to a brief war of words with Mallikarjun Kharge, who managed to earn other parties' support for the calculated delay from his side.

Sources said Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal utilised his time during the meeting to corner Kharge, Rahul Gandhi and K C Venugopal, who were representing Congress, on the issue by insisting that they should announce the stand during the press conference.

Kharge sought to reason with his younger AAP counterpart but he kept on insisting despite the veteran leader saying, "as Congress president, I am saying that there is no question of supporting any anti-Constitutional move by the Modi government." Sources said Kharge even to the extent of saying that Congress would not support the ordinance and there was no question of even abstaining or walking out.

However, this did not satisfy Kejriwal, which prompted Kharge to mention instances of provocative statements made by AAP leaders against his party and particularly referred to the threat issued by unnamed AAP leaders that Kejriwal would walk out if Congress did not announce its support.

Read | Opposition Meet | Vision first, Leader later

While Rahul did not refer to the issue during his intervention, Congress General Secretary (Organisation) Venugopal made it clear that no one can put a gun to Congress' head and demand negotiations.

Before the issue got out of hand, senior leaders intervened to bring the talks back on track. Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee told the warring leaders to have "tea and biscuits at a later date" to resolve the issue while sources said leaders felt Kejriwal was "unreasonable" when Kharge gave a commitment.

They were also upset at Kejriwal's attempt to turn the meeting into one on ordinance while the larger question at hand was "forging unity of secular parties for the 2024 elections".

The meeting started with Bihar Chief Minister and host Nitish Kumar's opening statement when he expressed confidence that more parties would join them closer to 2024. RJD patriarch Lalu Prasad, who was out of action for some time due to health issues, was the second to speak and he got a rousing welcome from leaders.

Lalu put his agenda on table saying, bigger parties will be allowed to have the leadership role in states and requested Congress to be "large-hearted". Later in the meeting, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav echoed him when he said, "bada manch keliye, bada dil bhi hona chahiye "to create a big platform, you need a big heart."

After Lalu, Congress was called to speak as it is the biggest party in the group but Kharge informed the leaders that he preferred to "listen" to them first, a gesture sources said was "well appreciated" by leaders.

Sharad Pawar spoke about the united fight and the need for a joint document to go out after the meeting and Kejriwal took the mike after the NCP chief. Before getting into ordinance, sources said Kejriwal spoke about the need for a bond of unity among the Opposition and stressed on one-on-one electoral contests while emphasising on the election motto "nation first, party second".

"When parties give up seats for their partners, their victory should be treated as the victory of the first party and team has won," sources quoted Kejriwal as saying. Interestingly, Kejriwal also said that there was "no time for expansion", even as he targeted the Congress government in poll-bound Rajasthan earlier this week. AAP is on an expansion mode and often accused by the Congress of entering into its turf with an aim to damage it.

In an apparent reference to Pawar's comments about Shiv Sena (UBT)'s Uddhav Thackeray being on the other side, Rahul said, "I have come here without any past likes or dislikes. Whatever it takes, we have to be together. India is facing a financial, institutional and communication monopoly and we need to fight it."

Many leaders expressed the opinion that their deliberations and actions should not be confined to the 2024 elections but should take up public issues. CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury, sources said, spoke about the need for "focus on people's hardship". He also wanted the Opposition to adopt a three-pronged strategy -- national-level political campaign, national-level protest plan and state-level alliances or seat adjustments.

Mamata, sources said, wanted support for the strongest party in the state. "Wherever Congress is the strongest party, it should get full support," she said adding, no vote should go to the BJP in the "greater interest" of the country.

DMK supremo and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin said every state will have a different pattern of understanding between the parties and it would be different for states. National Conference's Omar Abdullah echoed this and said different ways of seat adjustments could be worked out. As he opposed the Prime Ministerial candidate at this juncture, Abdullah said even if there is no one-to-one contest in all the 543 seats, even such fights in 450 is good for the opposition.

Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray said Opposition parties are "deshpremi" (patriots) and "prajatantra premi" (lovers of democracy) while JMM top leader and Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren said the Opposition should not lose focus on the five Assembly elections later this year while strategising on Lok Sabha polls.

CPI General Secretary D Raja spoke about fighting the corporate-communal nexus in the country, sources said.