Congress President Sonia Gandhi had a digital meeting on Friday with 19 opposition leaders along with those from her own party.

She had the 204 Lok Sabha elections in mind as she urged Opposition leaders to “unite” in the nation’s interest. “National interest demands the unity of all Opposition parties and Congress will leave no stone unturned on its part. Rahul Gandhi, Sharad Pawar, Mamata Banerjee, M.K. Stalin, Hemant Soren, and Uddhav Thackeray attended this digital meeting with the Congress supremo.

Representatives of the following parties were also present at this meeting: CPI, CPM, National Conference, PDP, RJD, AIUDF, VCK, Janata Dal (S), RLD, LJD, RSP, Kerala Congress (M), and IUML.

‘Opposition unity’ as a strategy has reemerged into the fore in recent months. Rahul Gandhi had organized a “breakfast meet” with Opposition leaders during the Monsoon session of Parliament which was hot with protests over the three agricultural laws and the Pegasus spyware revelations.

Mamata Banerjee had also visited Prime Minister Narendra Modi after her reelection as West Bengal CM and her party’s victory in a two-party contest with the ruling BJP at the Centre. She had then visited former Madhya Pradesh CM of the Congress, Kamal Nath, and NCP chief Sharad Pawar.

Last month in July, Banerjee had struck a similar note of urgency regarding the need for opposition unity as Sonia Gandhi, saying:

 “I don’t know what will happen in 2024. But all the opposition parties need to start working together and must start right now. Our freedom is in danger today. We have two and half years for the election. Every day matters now. We can’t forge alliances just ahead of the elections. Democracy is in danger. We need to oust BJP to save the country,”