The Aam Aadmi Party will take part in the Congress's joint opposition meeting in Bengaluru going to take place on Monday and Tuesday, informed party leader Raghav Chadha on Sunday. The decision comes after political affairs committee meeting of the Aam Aadmi Party that took place on Sunday to deliberate on the party’s participation in the Opposition meeting. The meeting was attended by Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann via video conferencing. Ahead of the meeting, when asked if AAP will attend the Opposition meeting, AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal said, "Can only say about that after the Political Affairs Committee (PAC) meeting.”
The meeting was attended by several top leaders of the party including Raghav Chadha, Durgesh Pathak, and Gopal Rai.
Reacting to AAP's announcement, Bengal BJP President Sukanta Majumdar said the party "should not be trusted." "Let the opposition parties come together, later they will go different ways."
"Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra should have sought opinion of Punjab and Delhi units of Congress party as both units are speaking otherwise," said BJP leader RP Singh.
Meanwhile Janata Dal (United) welcomed AAP's decision to participate in the meeting.
During the last Opposition meeting in Patna on June 23, AAP had declared that it would be “very difficult” for it to be part of any alliance that included the Congress unless the grand old party publicly opposed the services ordinance brought by the Centre.
Kejriwal had individually met with leaders from opposition parties including Mamata Banerjee, Uddhav Thackeray, Sharad Pawar, Akhilesh Yadav, Hemant Soren to seek their support in opposing the ordinance in the Rajya Sabha.
Ahead of the AAP meeting on Sunday, Congress said that it will not support the ordinance in Rajya Sabha hinting towards paving a clear way for AAP to remain in the united front against Bharatiya Janata Party in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
"I think they (AAP) are going to join the meeting tomorrow. As for the ordinance (on control of services in Delhi), our stand is very clear. We are not going to support it," Congress general secretary KC Venugopal told news agency PTI.
Reacting to Congress's stand, Chadha termed it a "positive development."
On Saturday, the Congress, after its parliamentary strategy meeting, announced that it will corner the Modi government during the upcoming Monsoon Session of the Parliament on various issues including “attack on the federal structure by the Modi government” other than issue of Manipur violence, rail safety among others.