NCP: NCP chief Sharad Pawar to skip Day 1 of joint opposition meet in Bengaluru, to attend Day 2 | India News

NEW DELHI: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar will skip Day 1 of a joint opposition meeting on Monday, to be held Bengaluru, the party said. The two-day meeting is scheduled to start from Monday, and is the second such meeting that follows the mega Patna huddle convened on June 23 by Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar.
Spokesperson of the NCP’s Sharad faction, Mahesh Bharet Tapase, however, confirmed via a post on Twitter that the senior Pawar will attend the meeting on its Day 2 on Tuesday. As per the tweet Sharad’s daughter Supriya Sule, the working president of the NCP, will also be in attendance on Tuesday.
“National President @NCPspeaks @PawarSpeaks Saheb and Executive President @supriya_sule will attend the meeting of opposition parties to be held in Bengaluru on Tuesday 18th July,” shared Tapase in a tweet.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut also confirmed the same. “After the Patna meeting, the Bengaluru meeting that will emerge today will be decisive. Shiv Sena Party Chief Uddhav Thackeray will attend the meeting. There was confusion about whether Sharad Pawar would attend the meeting or not. Pawar will attend the meeting in Bengaluru tomorrow morning. I am saying this with certainty. Hum Sab Ek Hai!,” Raut said in a tweet.

The Bengaluru meeting is seen as part of the opposition’s efforts to present a united front against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government at the Centre. Gearing up for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, leaders of at least 26 Opposition parties are expected to converge in Bengaluru on Monday and Tuesday.
Meanwhile, posters and banners of leaders from various outfits have been put up on Race Course Road in Bengaluru ahead of the joint opposition meeting.
Opposition leaders are scheduled to arrive for the meeting on Monday afternoon. An informal meeting is scheduled for 6 pm, after which there will be dinner at 8 pm.
On Day 2 on Tuesday, the meeting will kick off at 11am and go on till 4 pm. A press conference will also be held during which the campaign stategy for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls is likely to be announced.
The first mega opposition meet was convened in Patna on June 23 by Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar. At the meeting, opposition heavyweights, including Sharad, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, brainstormed on a roadmap for an anti-BJP front in time for the next year’s Lok Sabha elections.