Shive Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut has said that he, party chief Uddhav Thackeray and Aaditya Thackeray will participate in the second opposition meeting set to take place on Monday (July 17) in Bengaluru. According to ANI, Raut said that the meeting is a very important one. Notably, Uddhav and his son Aaditya had attended the first opposition meeting that took place in Patna on June 23. On Saturday, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Trinamool Congress National General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee stated that they will attend the next opposition unity meeting, news agency ANI reported. Top leaders from at least 24 political groups are expected to attend Congress's second Opposition unity meeting.
According to reports, eight new parties have joined the Opposition parties in their attempts to present a united front against the BJP ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
"After last month's mega Opposition meet in Bihar's Patna, top leaders of as many as 24 political parties will be attending the second meeting which is going to take place in Karnataka's Bengaluru," sources were quoted by ANI in its report.
"Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK), Kongu Desa Makkal Katchi (KDMK), Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), All India Forward Bloc, Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), Kerala Congress (Joseph), and Kerala Congress (Mani) are among the new political parties that will be joining the meeting," they said.
"Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi will also attend the meeting," they added. Notably, the KDMK and MDMK were formerly BJP allies in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
Meanwhile, Congress president and Rajya Sabha Leader Mallikarjun Kharge has asked senior opposition leaders to attend the next unity conference.
Only a week earlier, the Congress President, in a letter to major opposition party leaders, reminded them of their participation in an opposition conference invited by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on June 23 in Patna.