Dinner Diplomacy: INDIA bloc leaders to meet at Rahul Gandhi's residence on August 7, say sources - World News Network

New Delhi [India], August 3 (ANI): The members of Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) will be meeting over dinner at Congress MP and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi’s residence on August 7, sources said on Sunday.
The announcement of the August 7 meeting comes a day after the former Congress president asserted that atleast 70-80 Lok Sabha seats might have been rigged in the 2024 general elections, while addressing the party’s conclave on Saturday.
The ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Bihar, alleged voter list manipulation in Maharashtra, Operation Sindoor, India-US trade deal and the tariffs threatened by President Donald Trump are likely to be discussed during the meeting.
This is INDIA bloc’s second meeting since the commencement of the Parliament monsoon session. During July 19 virtual meeting, atleast 24 members of the bloc attended, including NCP (SP) leader Sharad Pawar, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi said earlier. These issues have been consistently raised by the Opposition parties during the ongoing Parliament monsoon session too, with a 16-hour marathon discussion on Operation Sindoor already being held earlier in both Houses of Parliament.
Attacking the Centre for being “absolutely unwilling to be held accountable,” the UBT leader told ANI, “Whether it is the Pahalgam terror attack, we haven’t seen any accountability coming from the Home Ministry. With regards to Operation Sindoor, which PM, on the Floor of the House, said is ongoing yet we are having them play Cricket matches together for money over the blood of the people of India. Then we have issues such as SIR.”
Mentioning the earlier allegations by Lok Sabha LoP, she demanded answers from the Election Commission (EC) over the deletion of voters in Bihar and the alleged addition of voters in Maharashtra.
“Rahul Gandhi had written about Maharashtra elections. We have been raising the Maharashtra elections process, how 45 lakh voters were added, how 70 lakh voters ended up voting at the last hour. So, those are questions which ECI need to answer and SIR on the basis of which over 60 names have been deleted – so on what grounds? Migrants who have gone to another state but have their vote in Bihar will come back to realise that they don’t have their vote anymore. So, they are effectively disenfranchised. So, those are burning issues of the country which we will raise,” she added.
Meanwhile, in Jammu and Kashmir, National Conference (NC) leader Farooq Abdullah has also confirmed his attendance for the meet. He said on August 2 (Saturday) that he will discuss the ongoing Bihar SIR during the meet, which he alleged has been used to make sure that the ruling BJP-JD(U) alliance will win the assembly polls.
“The elections in Bihar already have an arrangement that the party currently in power will win. I am going to visit him (Rahul Gandhi), the leaders have been called on August 7, I will find out (about Congress leader’s allegations),” Farooq Abdullah told reporters in Jammu.
Communist Party D Raja has also said that the Lok Sabha LoP has been “calling up people” to discuss the issue, however, he mentioned that “no particular agenda” has been discussed.
“Rahul Gandhi has been calling up people and informing, let us see what will be the agenda, what issues will be discussed, we will have to wait and see. The UPA leaders are being called, no particular agenda has been mentioned,” D Raja told ANI.
In yet another sharp attack towards the Election Commission of India, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on August 2 asserted that the election system in India was “already dead,” and alleged that the 2024 Lok Sabha elections were “rigged” and that he has proof to substantiate the claim.
Addressing the party’s annual legal conclave titled ‘Constitutional Challenges – Perspectives & Pathways’, Gandhi said, “The truth is that the election system in India is already dead. The Prime Minister of India holds office with a very slim majority. If 15 seats were rigged, we suspect that the number is over 70 to 80, he would not have been the Prime Minister of India. We are going to prove to you in the coming few days how a Lok Sabha election can be rigged and was rigged.”
Highlighting the six-month investigation carried out by Congress, he further alleged that the Election Commission of India (ECI) doesn’t exist and has disappeared. According to documentation received from the EC, Gandhi said that the Congress has ascertained that nearly 1.5 lakh voters out of 6.5 lakh who voted in the Lok Sabha elections were “fake”.
Meanwhile, the ECI on Saturday has said that the Lok Sabha LoP is yet to respond to its June letter regarding his allegations of “election rigging” in the Maharashtra Assembly elections. The poll panel said that on June 12, Rahul Gandhi was invited by them for an interaction regarding the allegations. (ANI)

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