NEW DELHI: Protesting against “vote chori” and CEC Gyanesh Kumar for the third day running, the joint opposition Thursday prayed at Rajghat for what Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said was for “better sense” to PM Modi and home minister Amit Shah. The contingent of MPs observed silence at Rajghat for around an hour.
For Friday, the opposition is waiting for an appointment from the President. It has asked all its MPs to assemble at Central Hall of Parliament at 3pm. In the absence of an appointment, there is a buzz that the MPs may march to Rashtrapati Bhavan.Despite heavy deployment, cops didn’t stop oppn marchMore MPs have been asked to come to the capital.In a late-night video, Rahul Gandhi said senior officers of the Modi govt were calling them with the request to stop the protests. “But this process is not going to stop,” he said. The protests will culminate with action against those responsible for “vote chori”, he said.Like a day earlier, opposition INDIA bloc members met for lunch at a restaurant in Connaught Place, where they announced their visit to the Gandhi memorial. The MPs along with some political functionaries boarded buses that moved slowly towards the destination, led and followed by a large number of NSUI and Youth Congress volunteers.The march, with flags, placards and sloganeering, was a repeat of the attempted march by the opposition to Election Commission headquarters Tuesday and Jantar Mantar Wednesday. The only difference was that unlike the previous two attempts, police did not stop opposition members from going to Rajghat, despite the heavy police deployment suggesting otherwise.The delegation included Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, KC Venugopal, CMs Revanth Reddy and Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, and MPs Manoj Jha (RJD), Abhishek Banerjee (TMC), Thol Thirumavalavan (VCK), Manickam Tagore, John Brittas (CPM), Sandosh Kumar (CPI), Rajeev Rai (SP), Abhay Kushwaha (RJD), Jairam Ramesh, Rajeev Shukla, Gaurav Gogoi, Deepender Hooda, Raja Warring, Charanjit Channi, Gurjeet Aujla, Karti Chidambaram, among others. NCP(SP) and Shiv Sena (UBT) were not present.Kharge said, “We want to tell the country that BJP govt is snatching away our right to vote. Modi and Shah are snatching away the freedom that great leaders like Gandhi, Nehru, and Sardar Patel had won for us.” Rahul said the opposition was stopped from going to EC and then to Jantar Mantar because “Modi, Shah, Mohan Bhagwat (RSS chief), and Gyanesh Kumar have hijacked the country through a criminal conspiracy, destroyed the Constitution, and stolen votes.”
