Those who believe in democracy should come together: Sharad Pawar

Sharad Pawar. File Pic

Nationalist Congress Party supremo, Sharad Pawar, on Friday attended the virtual meeting called by Congress interim chief Sonia Gandhi.

He appreciated the initiative to organize a meeting of like-minded parties in view of the present circumstances in the country, the former Union minister said on Twitter.

"The current scenario in India appears very gloomy. Farmers are protesting for many months, it''s an anguishing picture for a democratic country like India. The nation is facing many issues like inflation, economic slowdown, Covid mitigation, unemployment, border disputes, issue of the minority communities etc," he tweeted.

Also Read: Maha CM, WB CM emphasized on vax-discrimination against non-BJP states: Gandhi

"A time-bound action program needs to be taken up collectively, and I strongly suggest that instead of dealing with all these issues together, we must collectively prioritize each issue and solve them one by one to give our country a good present and future," he said.

The convener of the meeting, Sonia Gandhi, said the ultimate goal of the opposition should be Lok Sabha Elections 2024 and for that she said, "We have to begin to plan systematically."

She added, "This is a challenge, but together we can and must rise to it because there is simply no alternative to working cohesively together. We all have our compulsions, but clearly, a time has come when the interests of our nation demand that we rise above them."

A total of 19 parties including the NCP and Shiv Sena participated in the meeting.

(With PTI inputs)