Sharad Pawar will attend day two of the opposition meet starting today at Bengaluru, his party and allies asserted, denying reports that he would skip the meeting.
The 82-year-old leader will go to Bengaluru tomorrow with his daughter Supriya Sule, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) said, shutting down the reports that had raised fierce speculation a day after his surprise meeting with nephew Ajit Pawar, who recently split the NCP and joined the Eknath Shinde-BJP government in Maharashtra.
Sharad Pawar, who attended the previous opposition meeting in Bihar's Patna on June 23, has been a leading player in trying to unite various parties against the ruling BJP ahead of the 2024 national election.
Apart from NCP leaders, Sharad Pawar's allies also tweeted that he was very much a part of the Bengaluru conclave.
"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. Mr Pawar will attend the meeting in Bengaluru tomorrow morning. I am saying this with certainty. Hum Sab Ek Hai (We are united)!" posted Sanjay Raut, a leader of Uddhav Thackeray's Sena.
On Sunday, Ajit Pawar, who became Deputy Chief Minister after his coup, called on his uncle Sharad Pawar along with other NCP leaders who switched sides and are now ministers in the Maharashtra government.
Praful Patel - another close Sharad Pawar aide who rebelled against him - said they wanted to seek Sharad Pawar's blessings before the Maharashtra assembly session beginning today.
Praful Patel, who had accompanied Sharad Pawar to the previous opposition meeting in Patna, said he had urged the veteran to join hands with the rebels and unite the two NCP groups. "Sharad Pawar didn't reply to us, he just kept listening to what we were saying," Mr Patel told reporters.
Ajit Pawar, who claims the support of more NCP MLAs than Sharad Pawar, also visited his uncle's home last week to meet with his aunt Pratibha Pawar - Sharad Pawar's wife - who had a surgery recently.
Top leaders of 24 opposition parties are expected to attend the meeting called by the Congress in Bengaluru to discuss a united strategy to take on the BJP in the monsoon session of parliament and the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
In a boost to the opposition, Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) decided to join the meeting after the Congress came out in support of the party's fight against a central order on the control of Delhi's bureaucracy. AAP had threatened to boycott the meeting if the Congress did not declare its support for its cause.
Sonia Gandhi, Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal, MK Stalin, Nitish Kumar, and Hemant Soren are among the leaders attending the Bengaluru conclave.
Those expected to stay away are K Chandrasekhar Rao, Jagan Mohan Reddy, Chandrababu Naidu and Naveen Patnaik.
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