Kisan Mukti March: Rahul Gandhi, Arvind Kejriwal on the same page

DMK, BSP conspicuous by their absence; DMK says its absence was due to a miscommunication.

November 30, 2018 10:34 pm | Updated December 01, 2018 01:27 am IST - New Delhi

Surging ahead:  Farmers marching towards Parliament Street from the Ramlila Maidan in Delhi on Friday

Surging ahead: Farmers marching towards Parliament Street from the Ramlila Maidan in Delhi on Friday

The Kisan Mukti March brought a galaxy of Opposition leaders including Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Aam Aadmi Party convenor Arvind Kejriwal together at Parliament Street on Friday. However, some parties stayed away from the rally, with the Bahujan Samaj Party conspicuous by its absence.

The abiding political image from the rally was that of Mr. Kejriwal and Mr. Gandhi standing together. Not only did the political rivals share the stage, they also spoke to each other. According to senior leaders present on the stage, CPI (M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury pointed to the Delhi Chief Minister and told Mr. Gandhi that Mr. Kejriwal’s complaint was that the Congress leader did not talk to him. To which Mr. Gandhi responded by saying that he was there to talk.

Under pressure

The Congress has been under pressure from its Delhi unit to exclude AAP from opposition deliberations inside and outside Parliament. More recently, Delhi’s ruling party didn’t vote for the opposition candidate during elections to the Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman after Mr. Gandhi failed to call Mr. Kejriwal to seek his support.

Explaining the BSP’s absence, sources said the party had made it clear that it did not want to be seen in any Opposition gathering till the conclusion of the on-going Assembly polls in five States.

“They are fighting the Congress in Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Rajasthan,” said a senior Opposition leader, who did not wish to be identified. “They have already informed us that they do not want to be seen sharing a stage with the Congress before the results are announced on December 11.”

‘Miscommunication’

While the rally saw a sizeable number of protesters from Tamil Nadu, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam did not attend the march.

DMK MP Kanimozhi told The Hindu that the party’s absence was the result of a ‘miscommunication’ and that there had been no deliberate decision to stay away from the rally.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.