NEW DELHI: Cracks in the Opposition ranks were bared on Wednesday when key INDIA bloc partner Samajwadi Party (SP) skipped the joint protest over “Adani bribery charges” for the second day in a row. Another ally Trinamool Congress (TMC) has not been attending the bloc’s meeting or protests since the winter session of parliament began on November 25.
An Opposition leader said that Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party has been unhappy with the Congress for not being vocal on the violence in Uttar Pradesh’s Sambhal. The SP has also distanced itself from the Adani issue and was focused on Sambhal in both the Houses.
The unease among the allies has forced Congress to shift its focus from Adani to Sambhal on Tuesday in the Lower House. Several INDIA bloc parties, including the Congress, DMK, RJD and Shiv Sena (UBT) have been staging protests in front of Parliament gate for the past two days over the US indictment of Adani Group and the silence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the issue.
When asked about Samajwadi Party’s absence from the Adani protest, SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav stressed that Sambhal violence was a critical issue for the party and “nothing else matters”. However, the Samajwadi Party leaders including Akhilesh Yadav and Dimple Yadav joined the INDIA bloc walkout in Lok Sabha over the Uttar Pradesh Police’s action of stopping Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi from visiting Sambhal.
Sources also said that Akhilesh is also unhappy with the Congress over the new seat allotment in Lok Sabha. In the earlier seat arrangement, Akhilesh used to occupy the seat adjacent to Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi. Now, Yadav has been assigned a seat away from Congress leaders.
Samajwadi Party leaders feel that as the main Opposition party, Congress did not assert itself enough for the allocation of seats for the allies.
Some of the Opposition leaders told this paper that the Congress has not been taking any initiative to evolve a floor strategy or to pacify its allies.