Sharad Pawar to skip Bengaluru Opposition meet on day 1, will join tomorrow

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) founder Sharad Pawar will join the gathering of non-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders in Bengaluru on the second day on Tuesday. In a tweet, NCP said the party’s national president will be present at the meeting on July 18.

Pawar’s office earlier confirmed his absence on day one of the meeting being held days after a split in the NCP. His nephew, deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, who joined the BJP-Shiv Sena Maharashtra government on July 2 along with eight NCP lawmakers, was allotted the key finance ministry on Friday. His camp also managed to bag cooperative and agriculture ministries, which were with the BJP and Shiv Sena ministers earlier.

Ajit Pawar and ministers from his camp met the NCP founder on Sunday and requested him to keep the party united. Praful Patel, a leader of NCP’s breakaway faction, said Sharad Pawar listened to them but did not give any reaction. This meeting was the first between the leaders of the two factions of NCP since Ajit Pawar rebelled.

In Bengaluru, the non-BJP leaders were expected to build on the initial momentum post their first meeting involving 15 parties in Patna on June 23. Joint programmes at the national level were among the plans to be explored in Bengaluru. HT reported that possible seat adjustments between the parties will be left for the respective state units.

A total of 24 parties, nine more than the Patna meeting, were expected to join the Bengaluru discussions spread over two days in an indication of their growing strength.

The non-BJP leaders will join an informal meeting before Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah hosts a dinner for them on Monday. They will have their main meeting from 11am on Tuesday.

A strategy for the Parliament session will also be discussed. The Bengaluru discussions will also not have any fixed agenda. More objective outcomes were expected after the meeting.

The Congress set the tone for the meeting as its general secretary KC Venugopal said the party will oppose the Delhi ordinance, granting the Union government control over on transfers and postings of officers in the Capital. Delhi ruling Aam Aadmi Party decided to attend the Bengaluru meeting after the Congress’s clarified its stance on the matter

Jayant Chaudhary’s Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) on Sunday said it will participate in the meeting in Bengaluru amid speculation about whether it will join the ruling National Democratic Alliance.

The issue of the Congress joining the Samajwadi Party-RLD alliance in Uttar Pradesh was likely to be discussed in Bengaluru.