New Delhi: In an attempt to prove strength to the dissenting party members, popularly known as the G-23, Congress president Sonia Gandhi is likely to host a mega dinner for Opposition leaders.
Though the date has not been finalised for the meeting, Sharad Pawar, MK Stalin, Mamata Banerjee and Uddhav Thackeray are likely to be on top of the invitees list. According to media reports, a senior CPM leader is making the arrangements to organise the successful meeting.
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The gala virtual dinner is being considered significant to solidify the opposition unity witnessed in both the houses of the Parliament during the monsoon session. Besides sending a counter message to the G-23 members, the meeting is being held to cobble up an opposition unity for ‘Mission 2024’ to establish a solid opposition unity to take on the BJP juggernaut.
During the meet, Gandhis are likely to pitch how grand old party alone can take a final call to decide the contours of an opposition unity for next Lok Sabha polls.
The development has come two days after Kapil Sibal, one of the ‘G-23’ leaders, hosted a similar event on August 9. While Gandhis gave a snub to the meeting, several Opposition leaders including NCP chief Sharad Pawar, TMC MP Derek O’Brien, RJD chief Lalu Prasad, DMK’s Tiruchi Siva, RLD leader Jayant Chaudhary, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Congress MPs Shashi Tharoor and Anand Sharma arrived at a dinner.
Days before Sibal’s delectable dinner event, Rahul Gandhi had hosted a breakfast meeting for the opposition in the first week of August which saw the presence of all the major opposition parties except Arvind Kejriwal’s AAP and Mayawati’s BSP.