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Congress says Day 1 positive, terms NDA meet ‘direct impact’ of Bengaluru gathering
Opposition leaders met informally at a dinner hosted by Karnataka's chief minister Siddaramaiah.
The Congress party on Monday said the opposition leaders met informally at the dinner hosted by Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah and the formal meeting will take place tomorrow. Congress leader Pawar Khera asserted that the meeting was positive as the opposition leaders were meeting for the second time within a month to strategize for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. (Also Read | ‘Lalu cleverest of all’: BJP's dig at Oppn meet; says AAP ‘managed to box Cong’)
"The main meeting is tomorrow. We will brief you tomorrow, let the formal meeting take place," Khera told reporters after attending the opposition's dinner meeting in Bengaluru.
When asked about the agenda of the meeting, Khera said, “It was an informal meeting so there was no set agenda.”
Congress leader Sonia Gandhi and Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee, who were seated next to each other, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, senior party leader Rahul Gandhi, chief ministers M K Stalin, Nitish Kumar, Arvind Kejriwal and Hemant Soren and RJD chief Lalu Prasad were among those who attended the dinner meeting.
Among others at the meeting hosted by Siddaramaiah were Bihar deputy chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav (RJD), Akhilesh Yadav (SP), Uddhav Thackeray (Shiv Sena-UBT), Farooq Abdullah (NC) and Mehbooba Mufti (PDP), besides Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M), D Raja (CPI), Jayant Chaudhary (RLD) and MDMK MP Vaiko.
"It was a good meeting," Mamata Banerjee later said.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh took a swipe at the BJP for calling a meeting of its alliance partners when the opposition parties have joined hands to challenge the saffron party, saying the National Democratic Alliance is “being sought to be revived years after it had become a farce.”
“This is the direct impact of 26 Opposition parties coming together. After the Patna conclave on June 23rd, and the fact that more parties are attending the Bengaluru conclave tomorrow, the BJP is desperately trying to infuse life into the NDA,” he said in a tweet.
‘38 parties in NDA meet’
Earlier today, BJP national president JP Nadda announced that 38 parties have confirmed their participation in the NDA meeting on Tuesday and slammed the opposition leaders' unity efforts as a "selfish" exercise to protect themselves from action in cases of corruption of over ₹20 lakh crore.
"The NDA will resolve that the country will again elect its government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership. The country has decided that...," Nadda told a press conference.
The NDA meeting will be held in Delhi on Tuesday evening, while the two-day meeting of 26 opposition parties got underway in Bengaluru on Monday evening.
