Indian opposition parties to meet on July 17-18 in Bengaluru, says Congress party
Indian opposition parties meet
The joint meeting of the opposition parties in India will be held on July 17-18 in the state of Karnataka’s Bengaluru ahead of Parliament’s monsoon session, announced the Congress Party, on Monday (July 3). This comes a day after Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar’s nephew Ajit Pawar crossed party lines in the Indian state of Maharashtra and joined the NDA government.
About the upcoming meeting
The announcement was made by Indian National Congress (INC) General Secretary KC Venugopal in a tweet which said, “After a hugely successful All-Opposition meeting in Patna, we will be holding the next meeting in Bengaluru on 17 and 18 July, 2023.”
ALSO READ |NCP chief Sharad Pawar reacts to nephew Ajit's rebellion, says 'some fell pray to BJP's tactics'
He added, “We are steadfast in our unwavering resolve to defeat the fascist and undemocratic forces and present a bold vision to take the country forward.” The meeting was earlier scheduled to take place on July 13-14 in Bengaluru but it was postponed.
Prior to this, the opposition meeting was supposed to take place in Shimla but the venue was changed to Bengaluru, said Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar, last week. This also comes after Venugopal told ANI that Ajit Pawar’s rebellion is “not going to affect opposition unity,” and it is “NCP’s issue.”
Ajit Pawar’s move in Maharashtra
The announcement of the opposition meeting comes a day after NCP senior leader Ajit Pawar crossed party lines and joined the incumbent Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led state government and was sworn in as the new deputy CM of the state, a post he will share with the current Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis.
ALSO READ |India: NCP's Ajit Pawar joins NDA government, takes oath as deputy chief minister of Maharashtra
Addressing the NCP workers and supporters at the Yashwant Chavan Samadhi in the Indian city of Karad in Maharashtra, party chief Sharad Pawar, on Monday, said, “We were serving Maharashtra under Uddhav Thackeray but our government was toppled by some people. The same happened in some other parts of the country too in Delhi, Punjab and West Bengal where the governments are working democratically, are being attacked.”
However, he did not mention Ajit Pawar who caused the split in the NCP. The NCP chief earlier also said he would sit with Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Uddhav Thackeray to “assess the situation. Our main strength is the common people, they have elected us. We will work to strengthen the party again.”
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