Sonia Gandhi to attend Bengaluru Opposition meet, 24 parties to attend: sources

Former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi will attend the next meeting of the Opposition leaders in Bengaluru on July 17-18, for which 24 parties have been invited, sources told news agency ANI.

The first such meeting of opposition parties, to forge unity ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, was held in Bihar’s Patna on June 23.

Leaders of 24 political parties will meet in an informal setting on July 17 in Bengaluru, followed by more formal interactions the next day. The meeting is likely to focus on issues of broad agreement among the parties.

Eight new parties — Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK), Kongu Desa Makkal Katchi (KDMK), Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), All India Forward Bloc, Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), Kerala Congress (Joseph), and Kerala Congress (Mani) — are likely to join the meeting on July 17.

The meeting was postponed from July 13 to July 17 a day after a split in the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), following Ajit Pawar’s rebellion against Sharad Pawar in Maharashtra.

At that first meeting in Patna, 15 Opposition parties had resolved to take on the BJP unitedly in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, even as fissures had emerged with the Aam Aadmi Party asserting that it would be difficult for it to be part of any such gathering in the future till the Congress publicly supports it on the Delhi ordinance.

At a joint press conference after the Patna meeting, Opposition parties had said they would fight the polls on a common agenda and state-wise strategy, setting aside their differences with a flexible approach.