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Sonia's tea party to draw opposition
strategy in LS flops

Only leaders of four allied parties - Raghuvansh Prasad Singh of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), P H Pandian of the All India Anna Dravida munnetra Kazhagham (AIADMK), G M Banatwala of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) and Prakash Ambedkar of the Bharatiya Republican Party-Bahujan Mahasangh - attended the hour-long get together convened by the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha.

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) vice-president Mayawati sent a letter to Gandhi expressing 'regret' for her inability to attend.

Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) veteran Somnath Chatterjee met Gandhi for half-an-hour before the tea party but said later he had come in his individual capacity and was not representing his party, the Left Front or the People's Front.

"I was invited in my individual capacity," he said.

Those who stayed away included the entire Left Front and Samajwadi Party, which constitute the People's Front, the Sharad Pawar led-NCP, Janata Dal-Secular and some small parties like Ramdas Athavale's Republican Party of India (RPI).

Interestingly, another meeting convened by Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Manmohan Singh in Parliament House saw representatives of a number of parties, including the Left Front - CPI-M, CPI, Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) - as also RJD and AIADMK.

After the tea party, Gandhi exited through the rear door avoiding a large number of waiting mediapersons.

Meanwhile, Somnath Chatterjee said he has convened a meeting of non-Congress Opposition parties on Tuesday morning to decide on a joint strategy in the monsoon session, which began on Monday.

He parried a question whether the absence of several major opposition groups at Gandhi's tea party was a 'snub' to the Congress.

Asked as to why the Congress was not invited by him for Tuesday's meeting, he said "We have many differences with the Congress."

At another point, he said the Congress had bitterly fought the Left in the recent assembly polls.

Chatterjee, however, said his party was for 'issue based opposition unity'.

Congress spokesman S Jaipal Reddy later sought to downplay the absence of several opposition leaders.

"Gandhi has performed her duty as the Leader of the Opposition. Some parties have not responded. The onus is on them," he said, adding Deputy Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Madhavrao Scindia had personally invited opposition leaders.

Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh, when asked earlier whether he would attend Gandhi's get together, quipped "I don't want to create a storm in a tea cup."

SP president Mulayam Singh Yadav feigned ignorance about such an event.

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