Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi will be attending a dinner which will be hosted by the Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah for the Opposition leaders at Bengaluru for the mega Opposition meet in the city on July 17 and 18.
Ms. Gandhi is expected to be a part of the formal deliberations on July 18 as well for which the party president Malikarjun Kharge has sent out invitation to 24 like-minded opposition parties including Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
However, it is uncertain if AAP will attend the dinner as the party has announced to refrain from any such gatherings until the Congress publicly assures them of support in the Rajya Sabha to negate the Centre’s ordinance on Delhi services. The said ordinance gives the power to Lieutenant Governor of Delhi to have the final say over government officers in the national capital.
Sources have revealed that MDMK,, KDMK, VCK, RSP, Forward Bloc, Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), Kerala Congress (Joseph) and Kerala Congress (Mani) are the new invitees who were not a part of the meeting held on June 23. Together, these 24 Opposition parties have around 150 Lok Sabha members and wish to expand this number.
A senior Opposition leader, who was a part of Patna meeting has shared it with The Hindu that the invite sent out by Kharge stated that dinner on 17th will be followed by a structured meeting on 18th.