After Trinamool, Samajwadi Party Skips Congress Parliament Protest

Cracks in the INDIA opposition bloc are out in the open, yet again, as the Congress found its key allies missing from an opposition protest in the Parliament complex this morning. Congress members and some allies led by Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi staged a joint protest on the Adani issue. But Trinamool Congress and Samajwadi Party's absence at the protest exposed a lack of unity - months after the parties united for the national elections.

Trinamool Congress had skipped a key meeting of the INDIA bloc yesterday, suggesting that the Congress had only one agenda and that was different from theirs. Party sources said they want to raise six key issues in the parliament, including inflation, unemployment, funds crunch, and the Manipur unrest, but the Congress wants to press only the Adani issue. This led to the party leaders skipping the meeting at Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge's chamber, they said.

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Another jolt to opposition unity came this morning as the Samajwadi Party - the third largest party in the Lok Sabha after BJP and Congress - skipped the joint protest along with Trinamool Congress.

It followed an opposition walkout from the Lok Sabha over the recent violence in Sambhal over a mosque survey.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav raised the Sambhal issue in the Lok Sabha today. Once told by the Speaker they could raise it during Zero Hour, Mr Yadav and party colleagues walked out, followed by the MPs from NCP, Shiv Sena (UBT), and DMK.

The walkout sparked a blame game between the BJP and Opposition MPs over an alleged conspiracy to not let the House function.

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Taking a jibe at the opposition alliance, BJP MP Samik Bhattacharya said that wherever Congress goes, they are rejected by the public.

"You can see the condition of the alliance. Sometimes Trinamool is missing, and sometimes AAP is missing. Wherever Congress goes to the people, the public rejects them. The Congress now has just one place - Parliament Gate or not allowing the House to function. That is the agenda of Congress," said Mr Bhattacharya.

Congress MP Renuka Chowdhury said they are making all efforts to run the House and it will function only if the government wants.

"If they do not want that, then everyone knows what the conspiracy is. It is not our responsibility to run the House, those who are sitting on Chair and holding positions are responsible for doing this," said Ms Chowdhury.