17 July,2023 05:45 PM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
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Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar will attend the meeting of Opposition parties in Bengaluru on Tuesday, NCP party spokesperson said on Monday.
"Sharad Pawar has decided to attend the meeting of Opposition parties in Bengaluru tomorrow. He will go there irrespective of what is happening here," said NCP chief spokesperson Mahesh Tapase.
The two-day session of the Opposition meet in Bengaluru began on Monday with the address of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge stated that he has spoken with NCP chief Sharad Pawar and was informed that he would participate in the Opposition meeting in Bengaluru on July 18.
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"He said the (Maharashtra) Assembly is starting there today and he would like to be there (Mumbai). But he will be present for the meeting tomorrow. I called him up to say that it is important for him to come... He said he is coming on July 18 morning, there is no concern about that," Kharge said.
"There is no problem, everyone is coming. Mamata ji is coming, read in the papers Kejriwal ji is coming, Nitish ji, Tejashwi ji, Stalin ji... In fact, more people are aligning with us than those present at the Patna meeting," the Congress president said.
Top leaders of 26 opposition parties are set to brainstorm in Bengaluru and are likely to start the work on a common minimum programme and announce a joint agitational plan to take on the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Meanwhile, Sharad Pawar's nephew Ajit Pawar and eight MLAs of NCP loyal to him joined the Shiv Sena-BJP government in Maharashtra on July 2.
Praful Patel, a leader of Ajit Pawar faction on Monday stated that both (Ajit Pawar and Patel) will be attending the NDA meeting in Delhi on July 18.
Ajit Pawar was sworn in as deputy chief minister, the eight other MLAs took oath as ministers.
Two weeks after Ajit Pawar joined the Maharashtra government, Ajit Pawar, along with 15 MLAs of NCP, met Sharad Pawar on Monday in Mumbai and asked him to ensure the party stays united.
It was the second meeting of Ajit Pawar with his political mentor and uncle in two days.
(with inputs from agencies)
