Rahul Gandhi rides bicycle to Parliament to protest fuel hike
Darpan News Desk IANS, 03 Aug, 2021 11:11 AM
New Delhi, Aug 3 (IANS) Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday rode a bicycle to the parliament in protest of rise in fuel prices particularly petrol which has crossed Rs 100 per litre mark in various parts of the country.
Earlier in a show of unity, 15 opposition parties attended the breakfast meeting hosted by Rahul Gandhi at Constitution Club. During the meet Rahul Gandhi said, "the most important thing in my view is that we unite this force. The more this voice of the people is united, the more powerful this voice will become, it will be more difficult for BJP-RSS to suppress."
They also discussed the current political situation after the Pegasus snooping project was revealed.
The parties which attended the meeting included -- Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Shiv Sena, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Samajwadi Party, CPI-M, CPI, IUML, RSP, KCM, JMM, National Conference (NC), Trinamool Congress, DMK and LJD.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Bahujan Samaj Party, however, stayed away from the meeting.
After the meeting, Rahul Gandhi also sent out a tweet saying, "One priority - our country, our people."
The opposition has been demanding a discussion on the Pegasus snooping row but the government says that after the IT Minister's statement only clarification can be sought. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi has termed it as a "non issue".
Calling the reports of alleged snooping on prominent citizens using Israeli Pegasus spyware as "baseless", the ruling BJP on Monday said there is not a single shred of evidence so far that links either the central government or the party to this controversy.
Congress MPs from both Houses had met on Sunday afternoon at Rajya Sabha member Pratap Singh Bajwa's residence to discuss the issues related to Punjab and sought an appointment with Gandhi.
Apart from reviewing the security arrangements in the national capital, the Delhi Police have also strengthened the security in and around the Red Fort ahead of the Independence Day.
Police said acting on a specific information, Budgam Police along with the Army's 53 RR and 43 BN of the CRPF arrested one local terrorist linked with proscribed terror outfit LeT and recovered incriminating materials, arms and ammunition including one Chinese pistol, one magazine, eight live pistol rounds from his possession.
As the Pegasus spyware scandal unravelled within and outside Parliament, he termed it a "shocking assault" on India's democratic polity by the Union government, which had compromised the national security with "this blatantly disgraceful act".
The shocking incident happened on Sunday when the lawyer, Satyadev Joshi and his associate Ankit Tandon had gone to survey a land for a client in Dahisar suburb.
