Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi will be part of a dinner that Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will be hosting for Opposition leaders at Bengaluru for the mega Opposition meet in Bengaluru on July 17 and 18.
Ms. Gandhi is expected to be part of the formal deliberations on July 18 as well for which Congress president Malikarjun Kharge has sent out invitation to 24 like-minded parties including the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
It is unclear whether or not the AAP would attend the Bengaluru meet as it had announced that it would keep away from such meets until the Congress publicly assures them of support in the Rajya Sabha to negate the Centre’s ordinance on Delhi services. The said ordinance gives the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi the final say over government officers in the national capital.
Editorial | Tenets of unity: On the Opposition meet in Patna
Sources said MDMK, KDMK, VCK, RSP, Forward Bloc, Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), Kerala Congress (Joseph) and Kerala Congress (Mani) are the new invitees who were not part of the June 23 meeting. Together, these 24 Opposition parties have around 150 Lok Sabha members and hope to expand their footprints.
A senior Opposition leader, who was part of the Patna meeting, told The Hindu that the invitation letter from Mr. Kharge said that there will be a dinner on July 17, followed by a formal structured meeting on July 18.
Sources said there is an assessment in the Opposition camp, publicly articulated by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, that the Narendra Modi government could spring a surprise by advancing the Lok Sabha polls and that’s why the Opposition parties want the widest possible consensus on various issues as early as possible.
Mr. Kumar has proposed a one-on-one formula where the Opposition parties can have a joint candidate against the BJP to avoid a split in the anti-BJP votes. However, so far, there is no agreement on such a formula.
The possibility of more Opposition parties breaking up before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls will also come up for discussion at the Bengaluru meet after the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) witnessed a vertical spilt soon after the Patna meet.
At Patna, as many as 32 Opposition leaders including 6 Chief Ministers from 15 political parties were present. Though 16 parties were invited to the meeting, Rashtriya Lok Dal‘s (RLD) Jayant Chaudhary did not attend citing a family function.
Mr. Chaudhary announced that he will be attending the Opposition meeting in Karnataka, yet, there is speculation about the RLD joining the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) soon.
