At a dinner hosted by Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday, leaders of 18 Opposition parties decided to continue their black-clothes protest on Tuesday. They will continue to stage the protest against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's disqualification as a Lok Sabha MP in front of the Gandhi statue on Parliament premises as well. The Opposition is also seeking a thorough investigation into the allegations against the Adani Group.
A final call on various aspects of the protest will be taken on Tuesday at a meeting at Kharge's office in Parliament.
Rahul Gandhi was served a notice on Monday to vacate his 12-year-old Tughlaq Lane bungalow in Delhi. Following the disqualification notice issued last week, the Housing Committee of the Lok Sabha served Gandhi with a notice to vacate the bungalow at 12 Tughlaq Lane. Gandhi can now write to the Housing Committee and seek permission for a longer stay, which the panel could consider.
The notification that was sent out by the Lok Sabha Secretariat was sent to a number of departments, including the Directorate of Estates and the New Delhi Municipal Council. Additionally, all of Gandhi's benefits as a member of Parliament are being looked at.
Convicted for defamation over his "all Modis are criminals" comment, Rahul Gandhi was excluded from the Lok Sabha on Friday.
Reacting to the disqualification, the Congress held a day-long protest — 'Sankalp Satyagraha' — on Sunday. The Congress on Monday led a protest of Opposition parties in various parts of the country. As part of the protest, the Opposition leaders staged demonstrations wearing black clothes.
Opposition parties held a meeting in the Parliament House on Monday, which was also attended by the Trinamool Congress for the first time. Wearing black clothes, the Opposition parties decided to protest against disqualification of Rahul Gandhi from Lok Sabha as well. The leaders took out a march from Gandhi statue to Vijay Chowk later in the day.
Soon after this, Kharge hosted the dinner at his house. The meeting was attended by Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Jairam Ramesh, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhary, KC Venugopal, Pramod Tiwari and Rajni Patil. Before this, there was another meeting at the Congress President's house. Apart from the Congress, the leaders of the opposition also participated in the dinner.
Among the leaders from other Opposition parties were Ram Gopal Yadav and ST Hasan from Samajwadi Party, NCP president Sharad Pawar, and Rajeev Ranjan Singh from JDU. Apart from them, leaders from BRS, CPM, RJD, CPI, IUML, MDMK, KC, TMC, RSP, AAP, J&K NC, VCK, and JMM were present at the dinner. The Shiv Sena (UBT) was conspicuous by its absence. It has distanced itself since Rahul Gandhi's 'I am not Savarkar' remarks.
Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said that he won't apologise for his remarks on Indian democracy in his recent London visits. He remarked, "My name is not Savarkar, it is Gandhi and Gandhi never offers apology".
After the dinner, the Congress said that the united Opposition is steadfast in the demand for a JPC on the alleged irregularities by the Adani Group. JDU leader Rajeev Ranjan Singh said that the united Opposition will defeat the BJP.
This is the first time that after the end of Rahul Gandhi's Lok Sabha membership, Rahul himself was present in the meeting of opposition leaders. At the same time, due to Rahul's anti-Savarkar statements, the Uddhav faction Shiv Sena distanced itself from the meeting.