Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday hosted a lunch for INDIA bloc MPs and leaders at a restaurant in Connaught Place, ahead of their planned protest at Rajghat demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
The lunch was the second hosted by the Congress in as many days as the opposition stepped up its campaign against Kumar over alleged irregularities in the electoral process.
The Samajwadi Party, Shiv Sena-UBT and NCP-SP, which were absent from Wednesday's meeting, attended Thursday's lunch. Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, K C Venugopal, Jairam Ramesh, Vivek Tankha, Manickam Tagore, Jothimani, Rajiv Shukla and Deepender Hooda were among those present.
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy also attended the meeting. TMC's Abhishek Banerjee, Saket Gokhale and Menaka Guruswamy, SP's Rajeev Rai and Mohibbullah, CPI(M)'s John Brittas, CPI's P Sandosh and RJD's Sudhakar Singh were among the other leaders present.
The opposition's protest against the Election Commission entered its third consecutive day in Delhi on Thursday. The INDIA bloc has been demanding Kumar's resignation, alleging that the electoral process has been compromised.
Congress general secretary K C Venugopal said the opposition had sought an appointment with President Droupadi Murmu but was yet to receive a response.
"The first request letter was sent on October 2. Then Rashtrapati Bhavan office intimated us to give names. On October 5, we gave a request again with the names of all INDIA alliance leaders," Venugopal said, adding that they had sought an appointment for October 7, 8 or 9.
Congress MP Deepender Hooda said the opposition had also sought permission to meet the Election Commissioners but was denied.
"We were not even allowed to sit at Jantar Mantar. You saw the brutality by the police. This is the game being played, where the authoritarian forces in power want to suppress the voice of the people," he said.
RJD MP Sudhakar Singh said the "fight for justice" would continue until Kumar resigned, while CPI(M) MP John Brittas described the agitation as a "perpetual" one.
Rahul Gandhi had earlier said the protests would continue until Kumar resigned, asserting that the opposition was fighting to protect the country's electoral system.
The opposition protests have witnessed dramatic scenes over the past two days. On Wednesday, MPs were stopped by security personnel during a march, leading to a standoff outside the Shangri-La hotel. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra sat on the road holding a copy of the Constitution, while Rahul Gandhi resisted attempts by police to detain him.
On Tuesday, INDIA bloc MPs had marched from Parliament, following which Gandhi staged an eight-hour sit-in at Akashvani Bhawan. The protest shifted to Jantar Mantar on Wednesday.
(With inputs from PTI)
