Opposition meet attendees disagree with AAP's charge against Congress on central ordinance

The Aam Aadmi Partys shrill indictment of the Congress over alleged apathy towards the central ordinance issue seemed to have few takers among those present at the recent opposition meeting in PatnaAt least five leaders who represented their respective parties at Fridays meeting hosted by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar appeared unimpressed with the AAP going into a sulk over the ordinance which seeks to curtail the powers of the Delhi governmentIt is very unfortunate that the AAP seems to be looking at the issue through the prism of rivalry with Congress in Delhi and Punjab said CPIML Liberation general secretary DipankarHe asserted that it was wrong on AAPs part to say in an official statement that the Congress refused to oppose the ordinance at the meeting despite being asked to do so by many partiesAll parties were unanimous in the condemnation of the ordinance But the AAP leadership must place the issue in a broader context It is about the attacks on the Constitution and the principal of federalism by the BJP government a reason why we all buried our differences and joined hands said the Left leaderI would admire the maturity shown by our friends from Jammu and Kashmir who did recall with pain that AAP had voted in favour of the bill in Parliament that stripped the northern state of its special status its statehood and its integrity Dipankar saidThe Left leader also said he had requested the AAP delegation to stay back for the press conference after the meetingThey did not agree to do so But we are happy that overall the meeting remained fruitful the CPIML Liberation leader saidNotably the AAP delegation comprising Kejriwal Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann and Rajya Sabha MPs Sanjay Singh and Raghav Chaddha boarded the return flight immediately after lunch and the party came out with a statement voicing its suspicions over the Congress intentionsCPI general secretary D Raja a veteran leader who was among those present at the meeting also agreed that all parties without exception did criticise the ordinanceThe Congress too was with us in criticising the ordinance which aims at snatching power away from an elected government In all probability all parties present at the meeting will vote against a bill seeking to replace the ordinance The Congress may just be taking its own time to make a public announcement to the effect Raja saidHe also took exception to a section of the media using the word boycott to describe AAPs stance and asserted that Kejriwal and his colleagues were present all through the meeting and had lunch with us They did leave early because of other engagements elsewhereSimilar views were expressed by Peoples Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti one of the two delegates from Jammu and Kashmir the other being Omar Abdullah of the National ConferenceArvind Kejriwal did raise the issue of the ordinance at the meeting Nobody flinched from criticising the ordinance I also did not hold a grudge against his party having voted in favour of scrapping of Article 370 Though the agenda of the meeting was opposition unity she saidAnother attendee of the meeting Rajiv Ranjan Singh Lalan national president of Nitish Kumars JDU noted that the ordinance was never the main agenda Though Arvind Kejriwal is entitled to have a personal opinion and act on the sameThe BJP has expressed glee over AAPs tantrums as evident from a statement issued soon after the meetingFormer Bihar deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi claimed An angry Kejriwal refused to join the press conference the meeting is a flop Leaders like RJD president Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar who had fought the Congress during Emergency are now aligning with the same partyLalan however pointed out It was not the Congress per se that we were fighting against We were fighting against the assault on democracy and the Jana Sangh the BJPs previous avatar was with us in that fight Now that they are guilty of the same offence we must fight against them Nitish Kumar had vowed to defeat the BJP upon snapping ties with that party On Friday all parties lent support to his driveKumars deputy Tejashwi Yadav who is Lalu Prasads younger son and heir apparent avoided giving out too much on the exchanges with AAP but asserted that there was no bitterness shown by anybody All issues were discussed in a cordial manner and all parties agreed to meet again in Shimla to take the fight against fascist forces forwardThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever