Ajit Pawar's rebellion throws spanner in Opposition works, unity meet postponed

The second meeting of opposition parties has been postponed to 17 and 18 July. The announcement of new dates comes day after NCP’s Ajit Pawar joined Eknath Shinde-led government in Maharashtra and took oath as deputy chief minister of the state.

As per reports, Ajit Pawar and eight other party lawmakers who joined the Maharashtra government, were miffed with NCP chief Sharad Pawar’s decision to join forces with Congress’ Rahul Gandhi during the first opposition meet in Bihar’s Patna which was held last month.

“Ajit Pawar and Chhagan Bhujbal, among other leaders, could not bear that senior leaders like Sharad Pawar might be willing to move forward under the leadership of Rahul Gandhi,” a report by ToI quoted sources as saying.

“After a hugely successful all-opposition meeting in Patna, we will be holding the next meeting in Bengaluru on 17 and 18 July, 2023. We are steadfast in our unwavering resolve to defeat the fascist and undemocratic forces and present a bold vision to take the country forward,” Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal tweeted.

After a hugely successful All-Opposition meeting in Patna, we will be holding the next meeting in Bengaluru on 17 and 18 July, 2023.

We are steadfast in our unwavering resolve to defeat the fascist and undemocratic forces and present a bold vision to take the country forward.

— K C Venugopal (@kcvenugopalmp) July 3, 2023

Earlier, Sharad Pawar said the next opposition meet will be held in Bengaluru on 13 and 14 July. Those dates were said to be clashing with the Assembly sessions in a few states.

The first such meeting of opposition parties was held in Bihar's Patna on 23 June.

In the inaugural meeting earlier in Patna, top Opposition leaders, including Pawar, Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal United (JDU) chief Nitish Kumar, Congress's Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi, and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, among others, had resolved to put up a united fight against the BJP government at the Centre in next year's Lok Sabha election

Meanwhile, launching a scathing attack on BJP over the recent political event in Maharashtra, Venugopal said the development will not affect the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition.

"PM Modi made a big allegation recently against the NCP leaders for corruption and now we saw this drama. It is a clear sponsored game of ED and their agencies. It will not affect MVA," Venugopal said.

"We will fight against BJP more aggressively. This is not going to affect opposition unity, this is NCP's issue. Sharad Pawar is the tallest leader of the party and he will be able to handle the situation. Some leaders changing the party does not mean that the supporters of the party and other members will go with them," he said.

With inputs from agencies

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