New Delhi, April 8 : Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday said all parties that are against the ruling BJP should come together, as he met veteran socialist leader Sharad Yadav. Rahul Gandhi called Sharad Yadav his ‘guru’, and expressed concern on the economic and social situation in the country. Yadav meanwhile praised Rahul Gandhi, and said he should become the Congress President. The Congress leader met Yadav at the latter’s Delhi residence on Friday. Talking to media after the meeting he said, “He is my Guru so I came to meet him. I have learnt a lot from him”. Yadav said they discussed the situation in the country and advised him to reconnect with the weaker sections which had been supporting the Congress earlier. “I am very happy to meet him. There were several issues that I conveyed to him. I expressed my concerns about the situation in the country. I suggested that the Congress should reconnect with the weaker sections that used to support it,” Yadav said. The veteran socialist, who recently joined the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), was all praise for Rahul Gandhi. “He has so much empathy for weaker sections… there is no other leader who has so much empathy,” Yadav said. Asked if Rahul Gandhi should take over as the Congress president, Yadav said, “Rahul Gandhi is running Congress, he should be made the Congress President”. Rahul Gandhi, when asked about this, said it remains to be seen. Asked if Opposition parties are planning to come together against BJP for the next Lok Sabha polls of 2024, he said, “All opposition parties should come together, whoever is against RSS and Narendra Modi should come together. Discussions are being held and a framework will be developed”. The Congress leader however spoke about the situation in the country and said the spread of hatred needs to be controlled. “The situation in the country is bad. Hatred is being spread. We need to bring the country together once again, we have to go back to our history,” Rahul Gandhi said. He also said that the common belief was that social and economic conditions are not related, however lack of peace and harmony affects the economy as well. “People think the economy, price rise, is different from social conditions. The country that does not have harmony, prices will rise, hatred will rise… economy will not function… Harmony and peace are most important for the country… BJP thinks by spreading hatred India’s economy can be strengthened,” he said. Talking about the situation on India China border, Rahul Gandhi said China’s position was similar to what Russia did in Ukraine, it refused to accept Ukraine’s territorial integrity. “Russia said we do not accept the territoriality of Ukraine, it refused the accept Donbas and Luhansk as part of Ukraine…. Same principal is being applied on India by China…” he said. “Government is not accepting the reality… If they are not prepared for the situation, we will not be able to reach when the situation goes bad,” he said. He also came down heavily on the BJP government on the issue of price rise and unemployment, and said the back bone of Indian economy, the small and medium businesses have been destroyed. “We will see the results in next few years, it will be disastrous,” he warned. AO SHK1636