Left politicians raise Rahul’s ‘CJP’ remarks at Opposition meeting

NEW DELHI: Days after Congress party official Rahul Gandhi coined the term “CJP” to mock the CPM as the “Communist Janata Party”, two Left leaders in Kerala complained to the India Group that such attacks could damage cohesion within the opposition camp.CPM MP John Brittas and CPI member Sandosh Kumar told an Opposition meeting that Rahul Gandhi should stop such attacks. They are understood to have argued that the link between the parties under the Indian umbrella is their anti-BJP stance and the Left is a key member of the alliance. Rahul attended the meeting but did not speak on the issue.The discussion took place during the opposition parliamentary strategy meeting at the office of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and was attended by Rahul Gandhi, Sanjay Raut (Shiv Sena), KC Venugopal (Congress), Shatabdi Roy (TMC), Dayanidhi Maran (DMK) and Ramgopal Yadav (SP).After an important discussion, members of the left sought permission to raise some political questions. But it is reported that Hague rejected the request, saying that such issues can be discussed among the various parties and that he has called the opposition parties to gather to discuss the parliamentary agenda.While some members claimed Brittas and Kumar were interrupted, sources said they did express their opinions. Although the Left and Congress parties are both members of the India Bloc, they are direct rivals in Kerala, where the latter pushed for the overthrow of the Pinarayi Vijayan government. During his weekend visit to Kerala, Rahul claimed that the BJP and CPM had reached an agreement to jointly oppose the Congress party.