Second Opposition meet to be held in Mallikarjun Kharge's home state in Bengaluru

Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar said on Thursday that the next meeting of the opposition parties will be held in Bengaluru instead of Shimla on July 13 and 14. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge will chair the meeting.

The parties are expected to figure out a seat-sharing formula for parliament elections in states where they are already in alliance, like Jharkhand, Bihar, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.

As many as 32 leaders from 17 opposition parties came together for the first meeting in Patna at Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar's residence on June 23. The parties declared that they would contest the Lok Sabha elections together against the BJP.


However, tensions among the ranks were apparent right after the first meeting, when the Aam Aadmi Party skipped the joint press meet after the Congress refused to make its stand clear on the Centre's ordinance on amending the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Act. The Congress refused to support AAP against the ordinance, as a result of which Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal said it would be difficult for his party to be part of future meetings.

The opposition meet was the brainchild of West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, who had pitched the idea to Nitish Kumar in April.

The BJP had called the meeting a "multi-headed selfish alliance", comparing it to wolves hunting in packs.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Pawar had become restless after the Patna meet.