'Received a call from Nitish Kumar': Sharad Pawar confirms presence for 23 June Opposition meet in Patna

NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Thursday said that he has accepted the invitation extended to him by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for the upcoming Opposition parties’ meeting in Patna.

“CM Nitish Kumar has called a meeting on 23 June. He called me up and extended an invitation. He has invited the opposition leaders of the country. I will go there,” said Pawar.

He said the invitation has been extended keeping in mind the necessity to work together on a national issues.

Meanwhile, Bihar Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav on Thursday said that heads from almost 15 parties will be attending the meet.

“…couldn’t have a word with KCR (Telangana CM) but rest all leaders are coming…almost 15 parties will be attending the meet…from every party, the main leader is coming not just a representative,” said Tejashwi.

The meeting was initially scheduled for 12 June but had to be postponed after Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi expressed their inability to attend because of prior commitments. DMK president MK Stalin too, had conveyed that he would not be able to come on the scheduled date.

The Congress had assured that they would be deputing a senior leader— preferably one of the four Chief Ministers to represent the party.

However, it was felt that the very first Opposition meeting had to be attended by the top leadership of all Opposition parties so that the decision-making process was not hindered. Kumar had publicly articulated this opinion on Monday.

“I have made one thing very clear. All parties which agree to attend the meeting, must be represented by their respective heads,” he said.

Not only the Congress and the DMK but also CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury indicated that he was unavailable for the 12 June meeting. Yechury is playing a key role of inter-party emissary in the Opposition front. Many leaders in private blamed Kumar of going ahead with 12 June date, despite being informed about the unavailability of many senior leaders.

The venue in Patna was also of much wrangling. The location was decided at a meeting between Kumar and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata. She insisted that the venue had to be neutral, where the Congress did not get to play the host.

Though after the party’s victory in Karnataka, Banerjee had conceded that the Congress is key for any Opposition front, she is not ready just yet to allow Congress to be in driving seat.

With inputs from agencies

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