TMC likely to join Sonia Gandhi's virtual meet for opposition leaders

Kolkata, Aug 13: The Trinamool Congress has received an invite to a virtual meet for opposition leaders by Congress president Sonia Gandhi slated for next week, a political aide of TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee confirmed.

The TMC is likely to join the meeting. Gandhi has called the meet in the midst of a political row over alleged phone tapping of opposition leaders, judges and journalists and rowdy scenes in Parliament.

While the agenda of the meeting is not known, it is expected to discuss a raft of issues irking opposition parties besides helping build bridge to forge opposition unity. The DMK, NCP and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha are among parties that have been invited, according to multiple sources.

Banerjee too had last month, during a trip to Delhi, made a pitch for opposition unity. The West Bengal chief minister had, besides meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other central ministers, held parleys with Congress' Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, Kamal Nath, Anand Sharma and Abishek Manu Singhvi.

She also met Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and DMK leader Kanimozhi, besides making telephone calls to NCP chief Sharad Pawar and RJD supremo Lalu Prasad. More recently, on Thursday, the TMC came out against the suspension of the Congress' Twitter handles, displaying what many saw as signs of a rekindling of a spirit of opposition unity.

Banerjee's advisor and political campaign pundit Prashant Kishor has also been reaching out to various opposition leaders, while Pawar has also held a meeting with eminent persons and opposition leaders.

Political analysts see these meetings as essential stepping stones to forging unity among political parties ahead of a raft of state assembly elections including in Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state, in the next three years leading to national elections in 2024.