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Sharad Pawar met with Congress leaders in Delhi. Maharashtra veteran politician Sharad Pawar met Congress Leader Rahul Gandhi and party leader Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday night amid efforts by the country's divided opposition to unite before next year's national elections. The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader met with Congress leaders at Kharge's home in Delhi, where they would discuss strategies to unify the opposition.
"I want to have talks with the leaders of all the opposition parties. Mamata Banerjee, [Arvind] Kejriwal... We should go talk to them. We are going to move forward, taking everyone, to unite the 'opposition', Sharad Pawar told reporters after the meeting.
Kharge said: "I am happy that Sharad Pawar came to visit us from Mumbai and guide us. Yesterday Rahul Gandhi and I had a talk with Nitish Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav that we will keep the opposition united in the country."
"The incidents that are happening in the country today...to save the country, to save democracy, to protect the constitution and freedom of expression...the misuse of government agencies, on issues like inflation for the youth employment, we are ready to fight together," he added.
Rahul Gandhi said: "We are all united."
The meeting comes a day after Bihar Prime Minister Nitish Kumar and his deputy Tejashwi Yadav met Kharge and Gandhi amid talks to bring together some opposition parties on a common platform to confront the BJP next year.
Efforts to cement opposition unity appeared to pick up speed this week, with Nitish Kumar also meeting veteran leftists Sitaram Yechury and D Raja on Thursday.
The leaders are likely to advance unity talks as further deliberations are expected in the coming days, opposition leaders said. Congress plans to convene a meeting of the main opposition leaders very soon.
Kumar left the national capital after meeting several opposition leaders, including national party leader Aam Aadmi and Delhi Prime Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
After his meeting with Mr. Kumar, Sitaram Yechury, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (CPI-M) said that adjustments of seats would be made at the state level and indicated that a third front, a coalition that does not belong to to the BJP or Congress - was a possibility.
"The opposition's unity efforts have been accelerated. An opposition coalition will be formed and seats will be adjusted at the state level," the leftist leader said. He also said that a third front, if it materializes, will only come after the elections.
"But in India, the fronts are formed after the elections, like the United Front in 1996, in 1998 the NDA was formed after the elections, the UPA was formed after the elections in 2004," Yechury said.
He later tweeted: "With Bihar CM Shri Nitish Kumar to continue efforts to unite secular democratic parties to safeguard Indian Republic, Constitution and Democracy under severe attack by BJP and Modi government. Defeat BJP to save India and people's livelihood."
