Mission 2019 the Main Class as Sonia Gandhi Hosts Meal for 20 Opposition Events

New Delhi: Associates from 20 parties sat around Sonia Gandhi’s evening meal table at her 10, Janpath residence in New Delhi on Tuesday as the UPA chairperson looked to forge a broader entrance towards the BJP ahead of the 2019 elections.

The informal meet up with is expected to set the tone for opposition unity in the run up to the following elections and provided all parties that have been attending consultations to adopt a prevalent system in Parliament and outside from the BJP.

Though there have been a several notable omissions, particularly from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, there were being a handful of shock inclusions much too, none additional so than Nationalist Congress Occasion chief Sharad Pawar, who verified his existence at the incredibly past moment. Pawar, who has been jockeying to guide the federal front, has also planned a meet up with of the opposition camp afterwards this thirty day period.

Also stunning was the existence of Satish Mishra from Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Celebration (BSP). The BSP was not predicted to send a consultant as it has aligned with JD(S) for the Karnataka polls most likely in April/March this yr. But not only BSP, JD(S) also Kupender Reddy for the dinner.

The Congress fielded its most important names as apart from Sonia, Rahul Gandhi, former PM Manmohan Singh, her trustworthy aide Ahmed Patel and leader of opposition Mallikarjun Kharge ended up in attendance. Ghulam Nabi Azad, AK Antony and Randeep Singh Surjewala ended up also existing.

Bihar’s leader of opposition and previous Deputy Main Minister Tejashwi Yadav, who has just lately emerged as a potent voice against the BJP, and sister Misa Bharti also attended the dinner. In the absence of Lalu Prasad, Tejashwi Yadav is the most important player for Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) — an ally of the Congress get together and the guide constituent of the three-party Grand Alliance in Bihar.

Former point out chief minister and main of Hindustani Awam Morcha-Secular Jitan Ram Manjhi, the 3rd leg of the Bihar Grand Alliance, was also there.

Trinamool Congress chief Sudip Bandyopadhyay, DMK’s Kanimozhi and Ram Gopal Yadav of the Samajwadi Occasion were being also existing, and so was CPI(M)’s D Raja.

Many others at the supper involved AIUDF’s Badruddin Ajmal, Countrywide Conference’s Omar Abdullah, JMM’s Hemant Soren, RLD’s Ajit Singh and Hindustan Tribal Party’s Sharad Yadav.

The meal took location in the backdrop of the stupendous wins by the BJP in Tripura and obtaining managed to kind alliance governments in Meghalaya, wherever Congress was the single major occasion, and Nagaland. It has also ceded ground to other get-togethers like the TMC in getting the combat to the BJP on concerns like the banking rip-off. So, it once again has to rely on Sonia to take the guide.

Surjewala, the Congress communications in demand, reported the dinner was not organised for politics, but for amity and friendship between opposition functions.

He claimed at a time when the authorities was not permitting Parliament to function, it was noticeable that leaders of many functions, who preferred to increase problems in national interest, would get together to discuss the existing political problem.

“This meal was not hosted for politics, but for amity and friendship. The intention is not political, but to hold conversations in relatives-like location at a time when the country is confronted with a amount of problems and 1000’s of crores becoming taken out of the nation,” Surjewala instructed reporters right after the supper.

He reported opposition leaders received with each other to discuss issues in nationwide desire, produce bonhomie in the opposition and exchange views. He also accused the government of jogging away from a discussion on essential issues this sort of as banking frauds.