Turnout 'beyond expectation'

More reporters and camera crews turned up for the joint press conference of Opposition parties convened by the Congress than the party team tasked with organising the event had anticipated. Several journalists and photographers were turned away from the medium-sized hall at New Delhi’s Constitution Club where the Congress team hosted the gathering. That came as a surprise for journalists who follow non-Congress parties, particularly Trinamool Congress. Leaders of other parties and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s security detail were apologetic and cited instructions from the organisers of the event to deny entry to journalists. It transpired that those managing the Congress war room that operates out of a bungalow in New Delhi’s Gurudwara Rakabganj Road had booked the venue as they were not confident of filling up a bigger hall.