NCP Chief to Skip Opposition Meet Today

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) veteran Sharad Pawar will not attend the mega meeting of the Opposition parties scheduled in Bengaluru on Monday. However, he would be attending the meeting on Tuesday, July 18, according to party spokesperson Mahesh Bharet Tapase.

“NCP National President Shri Sharad Pawar Saheb & working President Smt @supriya_sule will attend the meeting called by opposition parties on Tuesday 18th July in Bengaluru,” Tapase tweeted.

It is pertinent to note that 82-year-old Pawar attended the previous Opposition meeting held in in Patna on June 23, convened by Bihar CM Nitish Kumar.
Last night, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut confirmed that Pawar will attend the meeting in Bengaluru tomorrow morning. He tweeted: "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!"

At least 24 opposition parties are likely to attend the meeting to be held in a hotel in Bengaluru on July 17-18, to form a united front against the BJP at the Centre.

At the Patna meeting, Opposition heavyweights, including Pawar, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, brainstormed on a roadmap for an anti-BJP front in time for the next year's Lok Sabha polls.

Huge posters and banners have been put up on the Course Road welcoming the opposition leaders to the Taj West End Hotel on the street.