A few days after West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee announced her intention to boycott the Opposition meeting on Citizenship (Amendment) Act, Aam Aadmi Party and BSP supremo have also said they won't be attending the meeting.
Sources in AAP said that the party was likely to skip the meeting of Opposition parties called by the Congress to discuss the situation arising out of violence on various university campuses and protests over the amended citizenship law.
The AAP is not attending the meeting in view of the upcoming Assembly polls in Delhi, they said.
BSP president Mayawati on Monday also said her party will not attend the Congress-led Opposition meeting, saying it will 'demoralise' her party workers.
In a series of tweets, the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said her party is against the CAA and the National Register of Citizens (NRC) but attending the meeting will demoralise BSP workers in Rajasthan, where the Congress has caused defections in her party.
'As is well known that despite the BSP support to the Congress-led Rajasthan government from outside, it has been for the second time that BSP MLAs have been made to join their party which is completely wrong' Mayawati said in a tweet in Hindi.
1. जैसाकि विदित है कि राजस्थान कांग्रेसी सरकार को बीएसपी का बाहर से समर्थन दिये जाने पर भी, इन्होंने दूसरी बार वहाँ बीएसपी के विधायकों को तोड़कर उन्हें अपनी पार्टी में शामिल करा लिया है जो यह पूर्णतयाः विश्वासघाती है। 1/3
— Mayawati (@Mayawati) January 13, 2020
'Under such circumstances, the BSP attending the opposition meeting today under the leadership of the Congress will be demoralising for party workers in Rajasthan. Therefore, the BSP will not attend this meeting,' she said.
2. ऐसे में कांग्रेस के नेतृत्व में आज विपक्ष की बुलाई गई बैठक में बीएसपी का शामिल होना, यह राजस्थान में पार्टी के लोगों का मनोबल गिराने वाला होगा। इसलिए बीएसपी इनकी इस बैठक में शामिल नहीं होगी। 2/3
— Mayawati (@Mayawati) January 13, 2020
However, she made it clear that the BSP is against the CAA and NRC
'As it is, the BSP is against CAA/ NRC etc. It is an appeal to the central government again that it should withdraw this divisive and unconstitutional law. Also, It is very unfortunate to politicize students in JNU and other educational institutions' she added.
3. वैसे भी बीएसपी CAA/NRC आदि के विरोध में है। केन्द्र सरकार से पुनः अपील है कि वह इस विभाजनकारी व असंवैधानिक कानून को वापिस ले। साथ ही, JNU व अन्य शिक्षण संस्थानों में भी छात्रों का राजनीतिकरण करना यह अति-दुर्भाग्यपूर्ण। 3/3
— Mayawati (@Mayawati) January 13, 2020
In a move to protest against the violence in West Bengal allegedly carried out by the Left Front and the Congress, chief minister Mamata Banerjee had on January 9 said she will boycott the Opposition meeting convened by Congress president Sonia Gandhi on January 13.
'I have decided to boycott the meeting convened by Sonia Gandhi on January 13 in New Delhi as I don't support the violence that the Left and Congress unleashed in West Bengal yesterday (Wednesday),' the chief minister said at the state Assembly.
