A joint statement issued by opposition parties has come as a huge boost to the Congress on a day when Sonia Gandhi was summoned by the Enforcement Directorate. The statement condemned the “relentless campaign” by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) against its political opponents.
Barring the Aam Aadmi Party, sources say all opposition parties agreed to stand with the Congress. The Trinamool Congress was absent as it was busy with the Shahid Diwas event in Kolkata but Mamata Banerjee mentioned the ED and CBI cases against opposition leaders.
AAP sources say they refused to support the Congress as the latter had not backed them when Satyendar Jain was questioned by the ED. So they did not attend the meeting that was specifically called on this issue.
The phone calls from the Congress were going out over the last few days. The callers were Jairam Ramesh, M Mallikarjun Kharge, and KC Venugopal. Just one line was mentioned: “If it happens to us it can happen to you too; your government too could be in danger.” It was easy to get Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena and Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party on board, as both recently lost their government in Maharashtra and have been facing ED heat as well.
At the meeting, Sena’s Sanjay Raut made the point that he was being harassed by the ED as he was most vocal against the BJP when his government was under threat, and, therefore, it was important for everyone to stand up and speak in one voice. While the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and Left parties don’t have immediate concerns, sources say that they know this is the time for all to stick together as the BJP has its eyes on the south as well. Sources say even the TMC was reached out to so that Mamata made a statement, which she did.
But the significance of the joint statement is also the fact that opposition parties agreed to issue it in support of Sonia Gandhi. This is in stark contrast to the times when Rahul Gandhi had his battle against ED, which was more of a lone fight. This in itself shows that Sonia Gandhi has the clout and respect of the opposition parties, more than Rahul does. After a long time, opposition parties seem to be coming together and going beyond personal differences and interests.
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