Veteran politician Sharad Yadav of Loktantrik Janata Dal party (LJD) said on Friday that all opposition leaders who took part in the virtual meeting suggested that Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi or Rahul Gandhi should chair the opposition parties core committee.
“Congress is the largest party (in opposition) and it’s obvious that either Sonia Gandhi or Rahul Gandhi will chair the core group (for opposition unity against BJP). I believe this will be everyone’s suggestion who participated in today’s meeting,” Yadav told news agency ANI.
Yadav further said that Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee suggested that a core group of opposition parties should be formed, which should meet every three to-four days. “Mamata Banerjee floated the idea of forming a core group for opposition unity against BJP, whose meeting should be held every three-four days,” he said, adding that “Concerns were raised over how all institutions are supporting one party,”.
Friday’s virtual meeting of 19 opposition parties, which is being touted as one of the biggest gatherings of opposition leaders in recent times, was attended by Nationalist Congress Party’s (NCP) Sharad Pawar, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s (DMK) M K Stalin, Shiv Sena’s Uddhav Thackeray, Communist Party of India (Marxist) Sitaram Yechury, Communist Party of India’s D Raja and others. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) were not invited while the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) did not attend the meeting.
Gandhi, who chaired the meeting, asked opposition leaders to rise above individual compulsions “in the interest of the nation”, and reminded them that the “ultimate goal is the 2024 Lok Sabha elections” for which they need to start planning “systematically”. “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 the principles and provisions of our Constitution,” she said.
