'We should keep meeting', PM tells Rahul Gandhi; Opposition upset

New Delhi: Meeting Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi and some other Congress leaders on Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed the hope that they would meet more often.

According to a report in NDTV, Modi said, “We should always meet like this.”

Gandhi and Modi sat facing each other in the latter’s office just two days after the Congress VP accused Modi of corruption.

As the meeting ended, Mallikarjun Kharge, the Congress's leader in the Lok Sabha, responded to the Prime Minister's comment saying, "Even if our hearts don't meet, we can at least cooperate and shake hands." Everyone laughed and chit-chatted for a while after that, said the report.

The delegation included Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, deputy leaders in both Houses Anand Sharma and Jyotiraditya Scindia, Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh and UP Congress chief Raj Babbar.

Rahul Gandhi raised the issue of farm loan waivers with the PM, citing inputs he had gathered during his tour of Uttar Pradesh, which is due for elections soon.

"Farmers are committing suicide all over the country. Government removed import duty on wheat, this is a devastating blow," Rahul said after the meeting.

He said the Prime Minister accepted that the situation of farmers is serious but did not say anything on loan waiver.

But the Congress VP’s one-to-one meeting with Modi has not gone down with some Opposition parties. The Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Nationalist Congress Party dropped out of a delegation to meet President Pranab Mukherjee to record their protest against demonetisation, as a result of Rahul’s meeting with the PM.

This strikes a blow to Opposition unity, just a few days after 15 Opposition parties had picked Gandhi as their spokesperson.

The report said that Opposition parties are upset that the Congress Vice-President sought a meeting with the Prime Minister without involving the other parties.

"Are we not concerned about the plight of farmers?" asked a leader of the BSP, which is a major player in the Uttar Pradesh elections.

Consequently, Congress President Sonia Gandhi led a much smaller delegation to meet President Pranab Mukherjee, said the report. Among those who were part of the delegation include Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress (TMC), Janata Dal (United) and the RJD.

Rahul’s meeting with Modi comes just two days after he had levelled graft charges against the Prime Minister and claimed that he had "personal information" against him.
“The Prime Minister is personally terrified with the information that I have. It is personal corruption of the Prime Minister that we have detailed information on, but I am not being allowed to speak in Parliament” Rahul had said on Wednesday.

Rahul however had refused to reveal details and said he would only speak on the matter in Parliament. "I have been elected by the people of India, by the people of Amethi, and the right place for me to speak on such issues is in the House," he explained.

The Congress leader had accused the government of running away from the debate on demonetisation as both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha remained virtually paralysed throughout the Winter Session.