Pegasus: Rahul helms meet of 14 oppn parties seeking accountability
A group of 14 opposition parties led by the Congress met on Wednesday (July 28) to build strategy to make the government answerable for the Pegasus scandal, under which the telephone numbers of several prominent politicians, bureaucrats and journalists among others were found to be hacked.
The past few days have witnessed frequent disruptions in the functioning of the Parliament with the opposition staging protests and raising slogans against the snooping scandal, forcing the chairs in both the houses to adjourn the sessions several times.
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The meeting was attended by leaders from the Congress – including Rahul Gandhi, whose name figured in the leaked database of hacked numbers – Shiv Sena, CPI, CPI(M), RJD, Janata Dal, AAP, DMK, NCP, Samajwadi Party, National Conference, Muslim League, Revolutionary Socialist Party, Kerala Congress and VCK.
The meeting was chaired by Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, who is the leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha.
Sitting with the entire opposition is extremely humbling. Amazing experience, wisdom and insight in everyone present.#United pic.twitter.com/w74YRuC3Ju
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) July 28, 2021
The opposition will brief the media on the minutes of the meeting at 1.15 pm.
The meeting comes a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi slammed the Congress for allegedly disrupting Parliament proceedings and deliberately not showing up for discussions over the issues it is questioning the government on.
On Tuesday, the Lok Sabha was adjourned nine times after opposition parties raised slogans against a host of issues including the Pegasus scandal and farm laws.
Rahul, however, at Wednesday’s meeting said the government’s accusation was a scheme to defame his party, adding that all the opposition wants is to raise issues concerning people and will not be deterred by the government’s criticism to do otherwise.
Earlier, seven opposition parties had written to President Ram Nath Kovind, urging him to instruct the Centre to discuss the Pegasus issue and the farm laws in Parliament.
While the Congress wasn’t a signatory to the letter, it had said that the Centre is to blame for the chaos and non-functioning of the Parliament as it has refused to discuss the Pegasus issue in the House.
