Vijayawada / New Delhi: BSP supremo Mayawati and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav were absent at a meeting of non-BJP parties on Tuesday, who alleged “systematic denigration of democracy” and assault on the Constitution and institutions like the RBI under the BJP government and vowed to fight it.
The meeting comes a day ahead of the Parliament Winter Session and results of five state elections where exit polls show the BJP on a weak wicket.
For about two hours, the leaders discussed the importance of forging a united front to take on the BJP in the 2019 elections. The meeting was held in the shadow of RBI Governor Urjit Patel’s resignation.
The meeting was convened by TD president and AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and was attended for the first time by AAP leader and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. “The BJP-led NDA government should go otherwise, there will be greater damage. We are representing people’s voice,” Mr Naidu said.
That as many as 25 leaders from various parties attended the meeting was a good sign, he noted.
“That is why irrespective of our political compulsions, we have joined here. It is a democratic compulsion. We want to protect this nation and save the nation and protect its institutions,” Mr Naidu said. A joint statement issued later said India needs a government, for which democracy is the “magna carta” beyond the victories and losses of electoral battles.
The meeting saw the attendance of former prime ministers Manmohan Singh and H.D. Deve Gowda, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Congress president Rahul Gandhi and party leader Ahmad Patel, Chief Ministers Mamata Banerjee and Arvind Kejriwal, Communist leaders Sitaram Yechury (CPM) and Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy (CPI), the DMK’s M.K. Stalin and Kanimozhi, former chief minister Farooq Abdullah and Sharad Yadav of the Loktantrik Janata Dal
Naidu said the Centre had diluted prestigious institutions such as the CBI, ED and RBI, he noted and pointed out that RBI Governmor Urjit Patel had resigned unable to withstand pressure.
