Opposition leaders meet over breakfast to chalk out joint strategy on Pegasus issue
New Delhi: In a bid to present a united face on the Pegasus spyware issue, leaders of several opposition parties attended a breakfast meeting hosted by former Congress President Rahul Gandhi at the Constitution Club here on Tuesday.
Several opposition MPs will cycle to Parliament after the meeting to highlight the issue of fuel price hike.
Apart from around 100 MPs of the Congress, leaders of several opposition parties including Trinamool Congress, NCP, Shiv Sena, CPI-M, CPI, RJD and Samajwadi Party attended the meeting.
Leaders of JMM, JKNC besides IUML, RSP, KCM and RSP were also present at the meeting.
Trinamool Congress, which had skipped the last meeting of Opposition leaders by Gandhi, was also present at today's breakfast meet.
Besides Gandhi, senior Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, KC Venugopal and Jairam Ramesh were present at the meeting.
The meeting comes amid continued standoff between the opposition and the government over the Pegasus snooping issue with the opposition demanding a discussion in Parliament and a Supreme Court monitored probe in the matter.
The government is, however, saying that this is a non-issue and does not want it to be discussed in Parliament.
Leaders of 17 opposition parties were invited at the breakfast meeting, but the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) did not attend.
Kharge said leaders of various parties have been invited for the meeting and are expected to discuss issues like Pegasus, farmers' matter, and the need for a joint Parliament strategy.
"Nobody in the government is listening. So we have decided to get together. The opposition is united and we are all together," Kharge said at the meeting.
Among the leaders who attended the meeting were Kalyan Banerjee, Mohua Moitra (TMC), Sanjay Raut and Priyanka Chaturvedi (Shiv Sena), Manoj Jha (RJD), Kanimozhi (DMK) and Ram Gopal Yadav (SP).
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Bihar: Over 150 children fall ill after consuming 'mid-day meal' in Saharsa
Saharsa (PTI): More than 150 children were taken ill after allegedly consuming food that was part of the mid-day meal in a school in Bihar’s Saharsa district, a senior official said on Thursday.
The incident occurred at a middle school in Baluaha village of the district.
The official said that 115 children were undergoing treatment at the Sadar Hospital, while around 50 students were admitted to Mahishi Public Health Centre.
“We received information that several children fell ill after consuming the mid-day meal in Baluaha. The children were initially treated at the primary health centre, but later, many were referred to the Sadar Hospital,” Saharsa District Magistrate Deepesh Kumar told reporters.
“According to doctors, the health condition of the children has improved, but they will be kept under observation for some time. There is no need to panic. Some kids are having mild fever. They are being treated accordingly,” Kumar said.
Meanwhile, family members of some children claimed that a snake was found in the container in which cooked pulses was stored at the school.
Of the 545 students present in the school, 200 had already eaten their meals by the time the snake was spotted, and later complained of stomach ache and vomiting, they said.
Regarding the claims, the DM said food samples have been collected from the school.
“We will be able to comment on this only after the results of the tested samples arrive,” he said.
