Opposition meet highlights: Key dinner meeting concludes in Bengaluru

The meeting will begin on Monday evening at Taj West End Hotel with an address by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, reported ANI. Read more

NC leader Omar Abdullah arrives in Bengaluru for the joint Opposition meeting.

"This is the second meeting. I hope something more substantial will be done in this meeting, as the earlier meeting which was held in Patna was just the normal one," he says.

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal along with Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann and AAP MP Sanjay Singh arrive in Bengaluru for the joint Opposition meeting.

Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren arrives in Bengaluru for the joint Opposition meeting.

Former Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray along with Aaditya Thackeray arrives in Bengaluru for the joint Opposition meeting.

Top leaders of 26 opposition parties were arriving here for a two-day brainstorming session with a call for unity and are expected to chalk out their joint programme aimed at defeating the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

"United We Stand" is the slogan on posters that dotted the streets of Bengaluru with pictures of opposition leaders, including Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi, TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, NCP's Sharad Pawar, AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal, DMK chief M K Stalin and leaders of Left and some regional outfits.

The two-day session of the Opposition meet in Bengaluru is set to begin on Monday with the address of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge.

The Opposition parties are meeting for the second time to formulate the roadmap for the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections with the aim of defeating the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

The meeting is to take place on Monday and Tuesday at Taj West End Hotel in Bengaluru.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday asserted that the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) will win the Lok Sabha election next year, and the BJP's downfall has started from Karnataka, where the party lost the Assembly elections in May.

Siddaramaiah claimed the BJP will lose the Parliamentary elections as the party will not get a clear mandate.

"After Narendra Modi became Prime Minister, price rise started, and the economy (was) destroyed. It has become difficult for the farmers, Dalits and economically weaker sections to survive. People have also lost their peace due to communalism. People are living in fear. This is the BJP's gift," he told reporters here.

Arvind Kejriwal has not done anything except levelling allegations on others, while he remains missing in action in Delhi. Today, when Delhi is facing rising Yamuna once again, he is in Bengaluru vacationing and doing politics: BJP National Spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla

The Congress on Monday asserted that Opposition unity would be "a game changer" for the Indian political scenario and took a swipe at the BJP, saying those who used to talk of defeating the opposition parties alone are now making attempts to breathe new life into the NDA which had become a "ghost".

Addressing a press conference here on the two-day crucial deliberations of opposition parties starting Monday evening, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has suddenly remembered the NDA (National Democratic Alliance).

"Attempts are being made to breathe new life into the NDA. There used to be no talk about NDA and suddenly since the past few days we are hearing and reading about it. Suddenly, it was reported that an NDA meeting has been called for tomorrow. So NDA, which had become a ghost, attempts are now being made to breathe a new life into it," Ramesh said.

The agenda for the meeting of Opposition parties in Bengaluru includes the setting up of a sub-committee for drafting the common minimum program and communication points for the alliance for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and also to discuss the process for decision on seat sharing on a state to state basis. During the meeting, it will also be discussed setting up a committee for chalking out a joint programme of parties including rallies and agitations. Suggestions will also be taken on naming the alliance during the Opposition meeting in Bengaluru.

A war of words has taken place in West Bengal ahead of the second opposition meet in Bengaluru with Bharatiya Janata Party and Communist Party of India (Marxist) locking their horns in the state.

Taking to Twitter, BJP leader Agnimitra Paul took a jibe at the CPI (M), asking not to ‘remove’ its rival TMC Chief Mamata Banerjee’s picture from its mouthpiece ‘Ganashakti’ after the opposition meeting.

Ganashakti, the mouthpiece of Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPI-M’s West Bengal unit, which is now run by a trust purportedly did not feature West Bengal Chief Minister picture after the first opposition meeting which was held in Bihar’s Patna on June 23.

Taking a swipe at the opposition parties' meeting in Bengaluru, senior BJP leader and former Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Monday said that on one hand there is the "tried and tested" leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and on the other hand there is Congress' "dagger of deceit".

Asked about the Opposition meeting, Naqvi told reporters that it was a case of unity among parties that are suffering from depression after electoral defeats and there is "guarantee of separation".

"The Congress' cunning character is to give power to one family and create a tower of trouble for others," Naqvi alleged.

Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren left for Bengaluru on Monday to attend the second meeting of opposition parties.

Senior leaders from 26 opposition parties including the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have been invited for the two-day meeting to start work on a common minimum programme and announce a joint agitational plan to take on the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

Soren is scheduled to return to Ranchi on July 18.

“All these subjects are a matter of debate…We will soon take a decision on it that whether a new name should come up or not…Other parties outside UPA have also attended this meeting...We are working on it”: KC Venugopal, Rajya Sabha Member & Senior Congress Leader on UPA’s future in India

Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav who arrived in Bengaluru on Monday to attend the two-day joint Opposition meeting, hoped that the people of the country would give the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) a massive defeat in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

"...2/3rd of the population is going to defeat BJP. I hope that the people of the country will give BJP a massive defeat...I am receiving inputs from all corners of the country that the BJP will be wiped out...," SP chief Akhilesh Yadav said ahead of the Opposition meeting.

On joint Opposition meeting, Karnataka CM and senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah says, "It is Narendra Modi who has spoiled the economy of the country, not Opposition parties...All the Opposition parties are coming together..."

Fifteen parties attended the last meeting for opposition unity hosted by Kumar in Patna on June 23. Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi is also likely to attend the meeting this time.

Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav, who arrived in Bengaluru today to participate in the joint Opposition meeting, was received by Karnataka Ministers MB Patil and Lakshmi Hebbalkar.

West Bengal CM and TMC leader Mamata Banerjee arrives in Bengaluru for the two-day joint Opposition meeting.

CM Arvind Kejriwal going to Bengaluru to attend Opposition meet, instead of being in Delhi to provide relief to flood-affected people: BJP

Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav arrives in Bengaluru for the joint Opposition meeting.

On Opposition meeting, Karnataka minister and Congress leader Eshwar Khandre says, "...The manner in which BJP was wiped out of Karnataka, in the upcoming Lok Sabha election they will be similarly wiped out of the country. Mahagathbandhan will win and Rahul Gandhi will become the Prime Minister."

A meeting of opportunists and power hungry leaders: BJP's Ravi Shankar Prasad on opposition parties' meet in Bengaluru.