New delhi sources stated that amid the widespread protests over the contentious citizenship law and a proposed National Register of Citizens, the opposition parties met on monday to discuss the current political situation and chart out their strategy. Meanwhile the meeting called by the congress was expected to be a show of strength for the Opposition, but the sheen of it was taken away as West bengal chief minister mamata banerjee and Bahujan Samaj party chief mayawati decided to stay away.
Perhaps congress ally in tamilnadu, the DMK, has also skipped the meeting despite the party and its president MK stalin being vocal in its opposition to the citizenship law that adds a religion filter for naturalised citizens and excludes muslims from its purview. Sources said that the party was angry due to remarks made by some local congress leaders in Tamilnadu. Furthermore the Aam Aadmi party, too, has decided not to attend the meeting, presumably in face of delhi elections next month where it is pitted against the bjp and the Congress.
Apparently miffed with the congress and the Left over violence allegedly perpetrated by them in the state during the january 8 Bharat Bandh, Banerjee had decided to skip the meeting called by the president of the grand old party, sonia Gandhi. Meanwhile the Opposition struggles to keep its flock together, the student protests against the contentious legislation since the police crackdown on Delhi's Jamia Millia Islamia last month have taken the country by storm.
