On Friday, a virtual meeting that included leaders of 19 different political parties, was convened by Congress president Sonia Gandhi. According to sources, she said that the ultimate goal is defeating the BJP-led government in the next Lok Sabha elections and called for systematic planning and working with the single-minded objective for the purpose.
“The ultimate goal is the 2024 Lok Sabha elections for which we have to begin to plan systematically with the single-minded objective of giving to our country a government that believes in the values of the freedom movement and in the principles and provisions of our Constitution,” the Congress president said.
“This is a challenge, but together we can and must rise to it because there is simply no alternative to working cohesively together. We all have our compulsions, but clearly, a time has come when the interests of our nation demand that we rise above them,” she added.
Leaders from 19 political parties discussed the strategy of the Opposition and the roadmap for the future at the meeting held through video conferencing. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury, National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav were among those who attended the meeting.
From the Congress, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Khadge, K.C. Venugopal and Randeep Singh Surjewala attended the meeting.
During the meeting, Mamata Banerjee appealed to Opposition leaders to speak out against the misuse of federal infrastructure and central agencies. According to sources, she also called for an organised confrontation with the BJP.
Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Saran said that the situation in the country has not been good and people need to be vocal about the issues that endanger them.
According to sources, NCP chief Sharad Pawar said that farmers have been protesting for many months against new farm laws and “this is a painful picture for a democratic country like India”. He said that the country is facing many issues today like economic slowdown, the pandemic, unemployment, border dispute, issues relating to minority communities.
“Those who believe in democracy and secularism, those who want to work together to save the democratic principles of our country, they should come together, that is my call,” he said.
Later, Pawar in a tweet said, “With the initiative of Smt Sonia ji Gandhi an online meeting of like-minded parties was held today. I truly appreciate the steps taken to organize this much-needed meeting in view of the present circumstances in our country. The current scenario in India appears very gloomy.”
Interestingly, while the Samajwadi Party did not attend the meeting, the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Aam Admi Party were not invited.