On 20 August 2021, Indian National Congress (INC) president Sonia Gandhi urged Opposition parties to come together and work cohesively in the run up to the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. There is “simply no alternative” but to work together, she said. The statement was made during the Opposition meet she had summoned, which had several prominent leaders in attendance. Leaders of as many as 19 Opposition parties were present at the meeting, including TMC supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister (CM) Mamata Banerjee, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar, Shiv Sena supremo and Maharashtra Chief Minister (CM) Uddhav Thackeray and his Tamil Nadu counterpart MK Stalin, among others.
All parties have certain compulsions, but the time has come to look beyond them, she opined. Senior Congress leaders, Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, and former Prime Minister (PM) Manmohan Singh were also present at the meeting.
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In her speech, she also lauded the Opposition for standing together and portraying unity in the Parliament during the recently-concluded Monsoon Session of the House. The Opposition should plan systematically for the Lok Sabha elections with the single-minded objective of giving India a government that believes in the Constitution, she said.
With the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls approaching, both the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party (SP) and Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) did not participate in the meeting. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the principal Opposition in Punjab, the state which is to go to polls early next year, was also not invited to the virtual meeting.
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Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) leader Jayant Chaudhary, Loktantrik Janata Dal (LJD) chief Sharad Yadav, and leaders from the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) and , the Janata Dal (Secular), Kerala Congress (M), etc., were also part of the meeting.
