PM's all-party meeting discusses border tension with China, AAP excluded

New Delhi: An all-party meeting called by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss the situation along the India-China border on Friday saw leaders of major political parties putting across their views on the sensitive issue.

The virtual meeting began with participants paying tributes to the 20 Indian soldiers killed in the violent face-off with Chinese troops in East Ladakh earlier this week.

Prime Minister Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar were seen standing in silence as a mark of respect for the fallen army men.

Singh and Jaishankar spoke on the stand-off at the meeting, according to early visuals.

Congress president Sonia Gandhi, NCP leader Sharad Pawar, TRS leader K Chandrashekhar Rao, JD (U) leader Nitish Kumar, DMK's M K Stalin, YSR Congress Party's YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray were among those who attended the meeting.

The government had invited presidents of major political parties for the meet.

Opposition parties, including the Congress, have been asking the government to be transparent about the situation on the border and slammed its handling of the issue.

Modi has asserted that the sacrifice of Indian soldiers will not go in vain.

Defence Minister Singh had said that Indian soldiers displayed exemplary courage and valour in the line of duty and sacrificed their lives in the highest traditions of the Indian Army.

Sonia Gandhi questions intelligence lapse

Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday asked the government whether there was any intelligence failure on the situation along the LAC, and sought an assurance from the prime minister that status quo ante would be restored at the border and China will revert to its original position.

In her introductory remarks at an all-party meeting, Gandhi posed a set of questions to the government, asking specifics about when Chinese troops intruded into the Indian territory in Ladakh and whether the country's external intelligence agencies did not report any unusual activity there.

"The question is, what next? What is the way forward? The entire country would like an assurance that the status quo ante would be restored and China will revert to the original position on the Line of Actual Control," she said.

Gandhi alleged that valuable time was lost between May 5 and June 6 and the government failed to use all avenues of talks to ease the situation and the result was the loss of 20 lives as well as injury to dozens of personnel.

She also asked about the current status of the Mountain Strike Corps, with two mountain infantry divisions, that was sanctioned in 2013. "Should the government not treat it with utmost priority," she asked.

Many opposition parties excluded

Opposition parties like the RJD, AAP and AIMIM reacted angrily on Friday over not being invited to the all-party meeting called by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss the situation along the India-China border and raised questions over the criteria for the invitation.

The Lalu Prasad-led Rashtriya Janata Dal MPs, including his daughter Misa Bharti and Manoj Jha, also staged a protest at Mahatma Gandhi's statue inside the Parliament complex and contended that despite being the chief opposition party in Bihar and the single largest party in the Assembly, it was not invited

The Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was also miffed at not being invited at the all-party meet with its Rajya Sabha leader Sanjay Singh saying the party has a government in Delhi and in Punjab, it is the main opposition party, but still the BJP does not want its opinion on such an important matter.
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