Opposition meet in Bengaluru: Leaders of 24 parties invited, Sonia Gandhi to attend

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: The opposition grouping to take on the BJP in the next Lok Sabha polls is set to expand with more parties joining in at the second unity meeting being convened by the Congress next week in Bengaluru.

Leaders of 24 non-BJP parties have been invited for the meet on July 17 and 18, the first edition of which saw the participation of 15 parties.

Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi is also expected to attend a dinner meeting on July 17 where leaders of these parties will be present.

There will be a more structured formal meeting the next day, where the opposition front would further strategise its plans to take on the BJP in the next Lok Sabha polls.

Sources said the MDMK, KDMK, VCK, RSP, Forward Bloc, IUML, Kerala Cong ress(Jose ph) and Kerala Congress (Mani) are among the political parties that will join the second opposition meeting.

A senior opposition leader said he has received the invite from the Congress president to attend the dinner meeting followed by a formal meeting the next day. The 24 opposition parties have together around 150 Lok Sabha members currently and are seeking to expand their base.

Opposition parties are likely to deliberate on a broad plan for their unity efforts, where they intend to put up one common candidate against the BJP. The first such meeting of opposition parties was held in Bihar’s Patna on June 23.