New Delhi

Opposition leaders of INDIA bloc on Thursday decided to stage a peaceful protest at Mahatma Gandhi's memorial at Rajghat to highlight what it alleged was the "hijacking" of the country by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and the Chief Election Commissioner through a criminal conspiracy by indulging in 'vote chori'.

Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi alleged that Modi, Shah, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and CEC Gyanesh Kumar have destroyed the Constitution and asserted that they will be brought to justice for their conspiracy.

Gandhi said this after Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge hosted a lunch for opposition MPs and leaders at a restaurant in central Delhi and decided to sit on a peaceful protest at Rajghat.

Then they left for Rajghat in air-conditioned buses parked outside the restaurant. Some of the leaders and MPs climbed atop the bus in which Rahul Gandhi and Kharge were travelling and were seen waving the tricolour.

This is the third day of protests by opposition MPs and leaders. On Tuesday, Rahul Gandhi staged an eight-hour sit-in inside Akashvani Bhawan complex and on Wednesday the leaders staged a protest at the roundabout near Shangri-La hotel in central Delhi after they were stopped by the police and forcibly removed and detained.

Gandhi said around 300 MPs want to hold a peaceful sit-in, but on the first day, we were stopped near the Election Commission's office and on the second day were prevented from going to Jantar Mantar, and were "beaten up".

"The truth is that Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, Mohan Bhagwat, and Gyanesh Kumar have hijacked the country through a criminal conspiracy. They have destroyed the Constitution and stolen votes.

"They (Amit Shah, Narendra Modi, Mohan Bhagwat and Gyanesh Kumar) will be brought to justice. This is our guarantee, and you will see it happen," he asserted.

Kharge said all the MPs of the INDIA alliance are going to the Gandhi Memorial where "We will stage a sit-in there and peacefully pray that Modi and Shah be blessed with wisdom."

"We want to highlight before the country that the BJP government is snatching away our right to vote. Modi and Shah are snatching away that freedom which great leaders like Gandhiji, Nehru ji, and Sardar Patel ji had won for us," he said.

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Besides Congress leaders, TMC's Abhishek Banerjee, Menaka Guruswamy, Saket Gokhale, Samirul Islam and SP's Rajeev Rai and Mohibullah, CPI-M MP John Brittas, CPI's P Sandosh and RJD's Sudhakar Singh were also present at the lunch by Kharge hosted at Moets in Outer Circle, Connaught Place.