New Delhi: Congress Interim President Sonia Gandhi has called a meeting of leaders of like-minded parties for a virtual meeting August 20 at 4 pm.
These include the chief ministers of Opposition-led state governments including Maharashtra's Uddhav Thackeray, Jharkhand's Hemant Soren, TMC's Mamata Banerjee and Tamil Nadu's MK Stalin.
The other Opposition leaders who have been invited for this party include NCP's Sharad Pawar, CPI's D. Raja and CPI(M)'s Sitaram Yechury.
Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut confirmed to ETV Bharat that Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has received an invitation from Sonia Gandhi and he'll join this meeting virtually.
Also read: Ahead of meeting with Sonia, Punjab CM holds discussion with Prashant Kishor
A source within the Congress said that the meeting has been called to keep up the momentum of Opposition parties who have been standing firm and raising various issues against the central government unitedly. Ram Gopal Yadav from Samajwadi Party will also attend the meeting.
But interestingly, this meeting comes days after Congress party's senior leader Kapil Sibal had called the Opposition party leaders for a dinner meet which was seen as an attempt at uniting the Opposition in view of the current political scenerio. However, the move did not go down well with the Congress as many party members saying that it showed the Congress leadership in a bad light.
This meeting is also a signal that the Congress is keen to form a united front of Opposition parties in the run-up to the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. The key Opposition parties Thursday also took out a protest march from Parliament to Vijay Chowk as a mark of protest against the central government over curtailment of Monsoon Session and not holding discussions on issues like Pegasus, farm laws, inflation, and Covid-19 management.
