Second mega opposition meet in Bengaluru today. Will AAP join?

After the first mega opposition meet that was attended by 15 parties convened by the chief minister of Bihar, Nitish Kumar on June 23. The massive meet is again scheduled to happen on Monday. Notably, the meeting will happen on July 17 and 18.

According to the latest updates, in addition to 15 parties’ leaders, now at least 25 opposition parties will converge at a hotel in Bengaluru as a part of their efforts to present a united front against the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) government at the Centre.

Congress General Secretary in-charge Communications, Jairam Ramesh, and Congress general secretary, KC Venugopal will hold a joint press conference at 11 am on Monday. Thereafter, leaders of other parties will start arriving at the venue in Bengaluru.

The sources also confirmed that the name of the opposition alliance will be decided in the meeting and apart from this, the common minimum program will also be discussed.

Apart from making the strategy against BJP, several other committees are expected to be formed during the meeting. Various groups and sub-groups may also be formed, they said. Discussion on the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) is also likely to happen.

Will Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) join the meeting?

The Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal also confirmed its presence at the meeting on Sunday. The announcement from AAP came just after the Congress made its stand clear and said that it will oppose the Centre’s ordinance on administrative services in Delhi if a bill is brought to replace the ordinance in the Parliament.

Notably, a disagreement was seen between the AAP and the Congress in the first mega opposition meeting on June 23, after the latter delayed its stand on the Centre’s ordinance.

New parties to join the opposition meet

Congress has invited 10 new parties to the second opposition meeting in Bengaluru to increase its tally over the NDA. These include Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK), Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), Kongu Desa Makkal Katchi (KDMK), Forward Bloc, Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), Kerala Congress (Joseph), Kerala Congress (Mani), Apna Dal (Kamerawadi) and Tamil Nadu’s Manithaneya Makkal Katchi (MMK).