Opposition leaders are all set to meet in Delhi next Tuesday (February 26) to discuss the current political situation and work on a common minimum programme (CMP) of the anti-BJP front.
The meeting, originally meant to be held in Mohali (Punjab) along with a public rally to display Opposition unity, will now be a closed-door meeting where leaders will also brainstorm on a common Opposition strategy.
Left parties, however, are unlikely to attend as they don’t want to be part of any ‘formal arrangement’ with their arch rival, Trinamool Congress.
Apart from senior Congress leaders including party chief Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi, West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee, Andhra Chief Minister and TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, National Conference’s Farooq Abdullah, Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal and RJD’s Tejaswi Yadav are likely to attend.
Though Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) kept away from such meetings in the past, on January 19, senior BSP leader Satish Mishra attended the Opposition rally in Kolkata. A senior Congress leader told The Hindu the BSP is expected to send a representative to the February 26 meeting in a bid to send a strong message of a united Opposition ahead of the 2019 polls.
On February 13, AAP had organised the Tanashahi Hatao, Desh Bachao (Remove Dictatorship, Save Country) rally at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar that was attended by a host of Opposition leaders.
