Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad will speak to all Opposition parties to work out a joint strategy to register their protest against the November 8, 2016, demonetisation decision.
A formal announcement on their strategy will be made on Tuesday morning at a joint press conference of Opposition leaders.
This was decided at a coordination meeting on Monday that was attended by JD(U) rebel leader Sharad Yadav, CPI MP D. Raja, DMK MP Kanimozhi, BSP’s Satish Mishra and Trinamool Congress’s Derek O’Brien. The meeting was convened by Mr. Azad.
Sources who attended the meeting said exact modalities — whether to host a joint rally or a protest march — will emerge only after Mr Azad speaks to all the other Opposition parties by Monday night.
“The idea is to have some form of protest. Also, every party can choose its own course of action,” said a leader after the meeting.
Mr. Mishra said BSP chief Mayawati planned to hold 13 rallies on this issue, of which at least five of them would be in Uttar Pradesh, sources told The Hindu .
Trinamool plan
Mr. Derek O’ Brien informed other members at the meeting that the Trinamool Congress was planning to observe November 8 as a black day.
Mr. Raja, who represented the Left parties at Monday’s meeting, said that the Left had already planned a series of protest actions starting from the last week of October.
Beginning November 8, for three days the Central trade unions plan to demonstrate against the Modi government’s economic policies and its impact on both organised and unorganised workers.
Mr. Azad, however, refused to get into the specifics and described Monday’s meeting as “the first meeting of the coordination committee of Opposition parties to take up a few things as part of agenda.” “After our discussions here, we will have to take up with 12 other parties and take their concurrence. Coordination means they have to be on board and not something six of us here decide,” Mr. Azad told reporters before the meeting.
Gujarat polls
Sources say other issues also figured in the discussions like the delay in announcing Gujarat polls by the Election Commission and the disqualification notice issued by Rajya Sabha Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu against JD(U) rebel MP Sharad Yadav.
