Opposition Parties Meet at Sharad Pawar’s Residence, Speculation Rife on Non-BJP Front
Image Courtesy: Sharad Pawar/Facebook
New Delhi: Leaders of several opposition parties, including TMC, SP, AAP, RLD and the Left parties assembled at NCP chief Sharad Pawar's residence here on Tuesday to hold a meeting, amid the heightened speculation about the possibility of a national-level front against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Former finance minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Yashwant Sinha, Samajwadi Party's (SP) Ghanshyam Tiwari, Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) president Jayant Chaudhary, Sushil Gupta from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Binoy Viswam from the Communist Party of India (CPI) and Nilotpal Basu from the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) arrived at Pawar's residence to attend the meeting.
National Conference (NC) leader and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah, former Congress leader Sanjay Jha and former Janata Dal (United) leader Pavan Verma also came to participate in the meeting.
Other prominent personalities who arrived at Pawar's residence to attend the meeting were Justice A P Shah, lyricist Javed Akhtar and former ambassador KC Singh.
The meeting was still on.
Earlier in the day, a senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader, on the condition of anonymity, said though Pawar is hosting the meeting, it has been organised by Sinha, who is the convenor of the Rashtra Manch.
Sinha formed the Rashtra Manch, a political action group, in 2018 that targeted the BJP-led government's policies.
The meeting comes after Pawar’s meeting on Monday with political strategist Prashant Kishor.
Kishore meeting with Pawar, which was their second this month, lasted for more than two hours and has further fuelled speculation that a national level front could be in the works to take on BJP.
Kishor, who was instrumental in the Trinamool Congress' victory in the recent West Bengal Assembly election, had earlier met Pawar over lunch in Mumbai
The meeting has been called to discuss the current scenario in the country.
"Pawar is working to unite all opposition leaders. Maybe, the meeting was to discuss it. The party's national executive meeting is also taking place in the national capital tomorrow (Tuesday)," NCP leader Nawab Malik said in Mumbai on Monday.
Kishor, who was part of the BJP's 2014 Lok Sabha campaign, later handled the campaign of several opposition parties like the TMC, AAP and the DMK.
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