17 opposition party leaders put up united face at Sonia's lunch

Forging a common stance on the upcoming presidential polls, a united opposition that included the Congress and some arch rivals on Friday decided to field its candidate if the National Democratic Alliance government fails to come up with an “acceptable consensual” nominee.

Leaders of 17 parties came together at a luncheon hosted by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on a day when the Modi government celebrated its third anniversary on Friday but the absence of Janata Dal-United stalwart and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar set off speculation.

Kumar is likely to be present at the lunch Prime Minister Narendra Modi is hosting on Saturday for visiting Mauritius Premier Pravind Jugnauth. JD-U leader Pavan Verma, however, said that nothing should be read into the chief minister’s absence at the meeting.

Incumbent Pranab Mukherjee demits office on July 25.

The meeting also saw opposition leaders attack the Centre on the “grave” situation in Kashmir and Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh and alleged that various sections of society -- Dalits, youth, women, poor and oppressed sections were facing atrocities in this regime.

Bitter rivals in Uttar Pradesh -- the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party -- and arch foes in West Bengal -- the Trinamool Congress and the Left -- were all present at the luncheon at the Parliament House library.

Apart from West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Communist Party of India-Marxist’s Sitaram Yechury, BSP’s Mayawati and SP’s Akhilesh Yadav, sat under one platform and attended the lunch together with other opposition leaders - NCPs’ Sharad Pawar, RJD supremo Lalu Prasad and DMK’s Kanimozhi.

The JD-U was represented there by Sharad Yadav and K C Tyagi, besides RJD’s Prem Chand Gupta.

Other Left leaders CPI’s S Sudhakar Reddy and D Raja and CPI-M’s P Karunakaran were also present, apart from SP’s Naresh Agarwal and Ram Gopal Yadav and BSP’s Satish Mishra.

Besides representatives of smaller regional parties, Omar Abdullah of the National Conference, JMM’s Hemant Soren and Sanjiv Kumar, IUML’s P K Kunhalikutty, JD-S’s C S Puttaraju, AIUDF’s Badruddin Ajmal and RSP’s N K Premchandran also
attended the event.

Apart from Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi, the Congress was represented by former prime minister Manmohan Singh and leaders Ahmed Patel, A K Antony and Ghulam Nabi Azad besides Mallikarjun Kharge.

After the meeting, Azad and Sharad Yadav read out a joint statement stating that in view of the presidential election, the normal practice has been that the ruling party takes the initiative to build a consensus on the names of candidates for
these important offices.

“This has not happened so far. If acceptable consensual candidates do not emerge, then we (opposition parties) shall decide to field such persons who shall steadfastly defend the Constitutional values of our Republic,” the statement said.

Yadav said the opposition appeals to the BJP to take the lead and come up with a consensus candidate for the president and the vice president’s post, as per traditions, but a consensus between the ruling and opposition sides appears remote.

“We want that someone who protects the Constitution holds this post,” he said.

Yadav also said that this opposition unity will continue till the next Lok Sabha elections and “take the challenge” together. He said the leaders of all parties would also work together in raising issues both outside and inside Parliament.

The opposition statement attacked the ruling dispensation expressing their resolve to strengthen floor coordination in Parliament and “to unitedly oppose this government’s policies, that are imposing unprecedented burden on all sections of our people, farmers, working people, youth, SC/STs, minorities, women and other weaker sections of the society”.

“The opposition parties also expressed concern over the prevailing grave situation in Jammu and Kashmir,” the statement also said.

Banerjee, who was one of the first leaders to arrive and leave, separately said in case a consensus candidate does not come up a small committee of opposition leaders will be formed to select a suitable presidential candidate who is “good and secular”.

Lalu said the NDA had “failed” on all fronts.

“Its only achievement is that it has set the Pakistan flag fluttering in Kashmir for the first time after independence,” he said.

Banerjee told reporters after the lunch that the parties present criticised the “horrible” situation in Kashmir, where security forces were battling civilians, and in Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur district, which has been witnessing caste clashes since April.

Photograph: Former prime minister Manmohan Singh with Congress president Sonia Gandhi, party vice president Rahul Gandhi and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and President, National Conference Omar Abdullah after a meeting to discuss the strategy for the upcoming Presidential elections, in New Delhi on Friday. Photograph: Subhav Shukla/PTI Photo