Time to unite for the nation’s interest: Sonia at Oppn meet

NEW DELHI: Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday urged opposition party leaders to work together and plan systemically for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, saying the goal is to give the country a government that believes in the principles of the Constitution.

Addressing a virtual meeting of various opposition parties, she said this is a challenge but expressed hope that “together we can” do it.

“Despite our compulsions, the time has come when interests of our nation demand that we rise above them,” Gandhi said.

Leaders of 19 political parties participated in the virtual meeting convened by Gandhi, amid efforts to boost opposition unity and evolve a common strategy against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance government.

“Of course, 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,” she 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,” Gandhi said.

Among those who participated in the meeting were

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and her counterparts from Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, Uddhav Thackeray and MK Stalin.

The meeting was part of the Congress leadership’s efforts to unite various Opposition parties on key issues before the country, including the upcoming assembly elections in some states and the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Among the parties who took part in the meeting were the Shiv Sena, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Communist Party of India (Marxist). CPI, National Conference, Rashtriya Janata Dal, All India United Democratic Front, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi, Loktantrik Janata Dal, Janata Dal (Secular), Rashtriya Lok Dal, Revolutionary Socialist Party, Kerala Congress (Mani), Peoples Democratic Party and Indian Union Muslim League.

Leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and Samajwadi Party were not present at the meeting.

After the meeting, NCP supremo Pawar said those who believe in democracy and secularism must come together and draw up a “time-bound action program”.

He appreciated the initiative to organise a meeting of likeminded parties in view of the present circumstances in the country. “The nation is facing many issues like inflation, economic slowdown, Covid mitigation, unemployment, border disputes, issue of the minority communities etc,” he tweeted.

The present government has failed to address these issues, he said.