The handling of media and social media platforms emerged as a major focal point during the Bengaluru Opposition meeting even as West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee hailed senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi as “everyone's favourite.” During the meeting, various leaders shared their perspectives on the matter.
It is believed that after former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and TMC supremo West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee advocated for restraint in public statements by the group members, National Conference leader Omar Abdullah raised the idea of a common active social media platform.
SP leader Akhilesh Yadav and RJD leader Tejaswi Yadav are understood to have agreed with him following which Congress leader Rahul Gandhi expressed his desire that his team could give valued training to the social media handlers.
Many leaders like Supriya Sule of NCP remarked that the former Congress chief’s social media is now drawing more attention and attraction as compared to the big names in the Government. Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren, too, complimented Rahul on this and said Maybe it was due to the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ effect. “It was only when this discussion was underway that Mamta Banerjee referred to Rahul Gandhi as everyone’s favorite,” said a leader requesting anonymity to avoid any controversy at this moment.
RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav also made an oblique reference to some leaders of opposition parties making comments in public against each other and stressed that this needs to be avoided at all costs.
In between Lalu proposed the name of his friend turned foe turned friend Nitish Kumar as convenor of the new coalition. The other issue that came around was to start working on the schemes under their regime in respective states which can be emulated for the common minimum programme if needed at a later stage.
He mentioned the leaders are also looking forward to resolving certain issues amicably as they all face the threat of turning irrelevant in case they fail to overcome them.
Further, while one section of the opposition wanted the issue of seat sharing out of the way before the alliance was concretized, another wanted to bring parties under one umbrella and seek a commitment from them on the matter.