The Opposition staged a walkout from the all-party meeting on Sunday after the government invited a rebel faction of the TMC, whose MPs have announced their merger with the little-known Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI).The government had called the all-party meeting ahead of the Monsoon Session of Parliament on Monday.Congress MP Jairam Ramesh told The Indian Express that opposition parties, including the DMK and AAP, joined the walkout.TMC MP Mahua Moitra, while speaking to the reporters, said, “Today, the entire opposition including Congress, the Samajwadi Party, DMK, JMM, Aam Aadmi Party, National Conference, Left parties, Shiv Sena UBT have all walked out of the all party meeting in protest because the so-called NCPI, which is an unrecognized party, the strength of the All India Trinamool Congress in the list provided by the table office is shown to be 28 members. These so-called rebel 20 MPs, their merger has not been approved by the Speaker.”Asad Rehman is with the national bureau of The Indian Express and covers politics and policy focusing on religious minorities in India. A journalist for over eight years, Rehman moved to this role after covering Uttar Pradesh for five years for The Indian Express. During his time in Uttar Pradesh, he covered politics, crime, health, and human rights among other issues. He did extensive ground reports and covered the protests against the new citizenship law during which many were killed in the state. During the Covid pandemic, he did extensive ground reporting on the migration of workers from the metropolitan cities to villages in Uttar Pradesh. He has also covered some landmark litigations, including the Babri Masjid-Ram temple case and the ongoing Gyanvapi-Kashi Vishwanath temple dispute. Prior to that, he worked on The Indian Express national desk for three years where he was a copy editor. Rehman studied at La Martiniere, Lucknow and then went on to do a bachelor's degree in History from Ramjas College, Delhi University. He also has a Masters degree from the AJK Mass Communication Research Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia. ... Read More