Congress President Sonia Gandhi will Meet virtually with several opposition leaders on 20 August 2021

New Delhi: Congress President Sonia Gandhi will hold a virtual meeting with several prominent opposition leaders of the country on Friday as part of an exercise of opposition solidarity, in which the Chief Ministers of West Bengal, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Jharkhand may also attend.

The Sources say that Sonia Gandhi is trying to surround the government by taking opposition parties along on the major issues facing the country and under this effort this meeting has been called.The Opposition parties are striving to unite to take on the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the national level, So that in the next Lok Sabha elections, a tough challenge can be presented from the opposition.

The recently concluded Monsoon Session of Parliament witnessed opposition unity against the government on the issues of Pegasus espionage controversy, farmers' agitation and inflation.During this, former Congress President Rahul Gandhi appeared at the center of the entire exercise of opposition unity.

Several opposition leaders including West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren and Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar have been invited for the digital meeting with Sonia Gandhi.

Sonia Gandhi has called this meeting amid allegations and counter allegations over the Pegasus espionage controversy and the uproar in the recently concluded monsoon session of Parliament, However, the agenda of the meeting has not been revealed,But it is expected that the meeting will discuss the issues of opposition parties and ways to strengthen opposition solidarity.

Sources say, In the backdrop of the situation in Afghanistan and some recent developments in the Northeast, opposition parties may question the government on national security.Mamta Banerjee had also emphasised on the unity of the opposition in her Delhi tour last month.Then she met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other Union ministers as well as Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Kamal Nath, Anand Sharma and Abhishek Manu Singhvi.

Banerjee had also met Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, DMK leader Kanimozhi during her visit to Delhi.Apart from these, she also spoke to Nationalist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar and Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav over the phone.