Embattled on home turf, poked by her own courtiers, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi is building a nationwide consensus on Goods and Services Tax (GST) ahead of a meeting tomorrow.
Sonia Gandhi has reached out to chief ministers of West Bengal, Jharkhand, and Maharashtra to discuss the issues related to loss of revenue incurred by states due to Covid-19 and GST collection.
Congress chief ministers Amarinder Singh, Ashok Gehlot, V Narayanasamy and Bhupesh Baghel also attended the virtual meet along with West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee and Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren.
The participation of Mamata Banerjee also holds a vital significance as less than a year is left for Bengal polls.
Sources remarks that the major intent behind the rally is to form a strong opposition to fight against the Narendra Modi led central government.
Sonia Gandhi seems to deliver the direct message to her party members who questioned her about the weak position of the party as the main opposition.
However, in her first unity move, she tends to lose support from some of her leaders.
Kerala chief minister, Pinarayi Vijayan had declined the invite due to strong opposition from Kerala Congress.
Initially her coalition partner in Maharashtra and chief minister Uddhav Thackeray was said to be not inclined for the meeting but he did attend in the end.
Mrs. Gandhi also seems to be disinterested in making Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal as part of her ‘strong opposition’ due to his national ambitions.
Apart from the GST council, the leaders are also likely to take up the issue of students including postponing the schedule of crucial Joint Entrance Examination-Main (JEE) and National Eligibility-cum-Entrance (NEET) examinations that has triggered protest across the country.
Swedish teen climate change activist, Greta Thunberg has also showed her support to students protesting for the postponement of the JEE and NEET exams.
Amidst the growing chaos on this matter, the National Test Agency (NTA) stood firm in its decision and has maintained that the examinations will be conducted as per the decided schedule.
Even the Supreme Court has dismissed the plea seeking the postponement of the exams. The NTA has ensured that the exams will be conducted in a safe environment in wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
