Second Oppn meet: Leaders of 24 parties invited, Sonia to attend
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New Delhi: Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi will attend the second opposition meeting in Bengaluru, which is scheduled to take place on July 17-18, sources said on Wednesday.
The meeting, which will be hosted by Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, will see the participation of 24 opposition parties. The first meeting in Patna was attended by around 17 parties and seven new parties have been invited to the meeting this time.
According to the sources, the invitation has been extended to 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).
Sonia Gandhi is also likely to host a dinner for opposition leaders a day before the meeting called by the Congress.
In the first meeting that took place in Patna on June 23, Congress party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, former party chief Rahul Gandhi, Congress general secretary (Organisation) K.C. Venugopal, and several others attended it.
The meeting convened by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar at his residence had brought the opposition parties together on a single platform to chalk out a strategy against the BJP ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray, PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, NC leader Omar Abdullah, and others had participated in the meeting.
With inputs from IANS
