NEW DELHI: Leaders of the INDIA bloc gathered for a dinner meeting hosted by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday evening to discuss the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in Bihar and Gandhi’s recent allegations of poll rigging involving the Election Commission (EC).The informal meeting took place at Gandhi’s residence and was attended by around 50 leaders from 25 opposition parties. During the discussion, Gandhi made a presentation outlining the explosive claims of a “huge criminal fraud” which he alleged involved collusion between the ruling party BJP and the EC.Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi described the meeting as “positive” and confirmed that the SIR exercise and revelations made by Gandhi were the core discussions carried. He said that it wasn’t a formal meeting and other issues were also discussed.“The way opposition parties have been united in Parliament in national interest and have cornered the government, the same unity was visible in the meeting as well,” Gogoi added.Communist Party of India (CPI) general secretary D Raja called the meeting very meaningful. “Today’s meeting was very meaningful, the issue was ongoing controversy, SIR, and how EC has been functioning, how wrong things are being done as far as enrolment of voters are concerned, their identities are concerned,” Raja said.National Conference (NC) leader Farooq Abdullah raised the issue of statehood for Jammu and Kashmir, stating that the Centre had yet to fulfill its promise. He also voiced concern over the recent ban on certain books in the region, calling it unconstitutional.Leaders present at the meeting included Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, Sharad Pawar (NCP-SP), Akhilesh Yadav (SP), Tejashwi Yadav (RJD), Uddhav Thackeray (Shiv Sena-UBT), Mehbooba Mufti (PDP), Abhishek Banerjee (TMC), Tiruchi Siva (DMK), M A Baby (CPI-M), Dipankar Bhattacharya (CPI-ML) and Kamal Haasan (MNM), among others.Chief ministers Siddaramaiah (Karnataka), Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu (Himachal Pradesh) and Revanth Reddy (Telangana) were also present.Other attendees included Priyanka Gandhi, Jairam Ramesh, Mahua Maji (JMM), NK Premachandran (RSP), Dimple and Ramgopal Yadav (SP), as well as representatives from the Forward Bloc, VCK, Kerala Congress (M), MDMK, KMDK, PWK, RLP, IUML and Kerala Congress (J).The meeting came on the same day Rahul Gandhi presented data from the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, claiming that over one lakh votes had been “stolen” in a Karnataka assembly segment through five different methods of manipulation. He asserted that “vote chori” is an “atom bomb on our democracy”.The opposition has been vocal against the SIR exercise in Bihar, warning that it could lead to disenfranchisement of many. They are also planning a protest march to the Election Commission’s headquarters in Delhi in the coming days.
About the Author
