Sonia Gandhi to meet Opposition leaders on August 20; common campaign on agenda

The meeting coincided with the birth anniversary of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi

11 days after Congress leader from G-23, Kapil Sibal, held a dinner meeting attended by a number of senior Opposition leaders, Congress President Sonia Gandhi will hold interactions with party chiefs and Chief Ministers from the Opposition camp on Friday to give teeth to a common Opposition strategy against the government.

The virtual meeting by Gandhi is likely to be attended by top Opposition leaders including West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee from Trinamool Congress, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray (Shiv Sena), Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin (DMK) and NCP boss Sharad Pawar, besides leaders from other in the Opposition ranks.

The meeting on August 20, coinciding with the birth anniversary of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, is taking place at a time when all Opposition parties have upped the ante against the government on issues like snooping, unemployment, price rise and farm bills and were able to present a united face in the recently concluded Monsoon Session.

With BJP in power in six of seven states going to polls next month, some of the recent meetings of Opposition have seen the clamour for putting up a united fight against the ruling party--particularly in Uttar Pradesh, which sends 80 Lok Sabha MPs to Parliament.

Holding a meeting with leaders of 15 Opposition parties on August 3 in Parliament, Rahul Gandhi had said, "Within the foundations of unity, we can have a few discussions and arguments but I think it is important for us to come up with the principles of the foundations of our unity."

Sonia Gandhi's Friday meeting is likely to explore the commonalities of the themes on which the Opposition parties can put up a joint show against the government.

Congress seeks to build a campaign to find loopholes in BJP's key plank of national security, raises questions about Chinese aggression, turmoil in North East and the events in Afghanistan. Other Opposition parties have also attacked the government on these issues.

"The Chinese threat continues to jeopardise our territorial integrity but Modi is silent, Is this nationalism, India you decide," asked Congress on Thursday. It also attacked the ruling party over the situation in North-East states.

"North East under BJP, No law, No order..fake nationalism can only bring violence, destruction and disharmony in its wake," the Opposition party said.

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