EW DELHI: There is a consensus among opposition parties that the assault on institutions such as the RBI must be stopped, Congress president Rahul Gandhi said Monday following the resignation of the central bank's governor Urjit Patel.
Gandhi's remarks came after top leaders of over a dozen opposition parties met here as part of attempts to forge a front to take on the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who attended the meeting, hit out at the Modi government over Patel's resignation, saying it was a matter of "great shock".
The meeting, held in Parliament annexe, came a day ahead of the results of the Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Telangana and Mizoram Assembly polls as well as the winter session of Parliament.
The opposition meeting was coordinated by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu and a number of opposition leaders were invited.
Besides Banerjee and Gandhi, former prime ministers Manmohan Singh and H D Deve Gowda, also a Janata Dal (Secular) leader, Sonia Gandhi, AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal, DMK chief M K Stalin, NCP chief Sharad Pawar and National Conference supremo Farooq Abdullah.
The others who took part were Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav, CPI-M general secretary Sitaram Yechury, CPI leaders Sudhakar Reddy and D Raja, Loktantrik Janata Dal leader Sharad Yadav and Jharkhand Vikas Morcha's (JVM) Babulal Marandi.
Top Congress leaders Ahmed Patel, A K Antony, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Ashok Gehlot were also present.