The two-day brainstorming session involving leaders from 26 opposition parties concluded at Bengaluru's Taj West End Hotel on Tuesday evening. It took several rounds of deliberations before they reached a consensus on the name of their alliance to their strategy to take on the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Top opposition leaders, including Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, chief ministers of West Bengal, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand, and former chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra along with party presidents and leaders of several parties attended the Tuesday meeting.
The two-day summit was kicked off by an informal dinner meet hosted by Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah Monday night.
Meanwhile, the opposition alliance has been named INDIA (Indian National Democratic Inclusive Alliance.)
Around 15 non-BJP parties had met in Patna on June 23 to formulate a coalition force to take on the saffron party in the 2024 general elections.
On the other hand, a meeting of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) took place in New Delhi on Tuesday which saw Prime Minister Modi being welcomed by BJP president J P Nadda, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, former Tamil Nadu chief minister K Palaniswami and Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio.
Here are key highlights:
7:30 pm: The opposition parties also expressed "grave concern" over the "humanitarian tragedy" that has "destroyed" Manipur.
They also said they are determined to confront the continuing assault on the constitutional rights of democratically elected state governments. "The role of governors and LGs (lieutenant governors) in non-BJP ruled states has exceeded all constitutional norms," the parties said in the resolution.
7 pm: The 26 opposition parties also demanded the implementation of the caste census.
6 pm: In their 'Samuhik Sankalp (joint resolution)', the leaders asserted that they have come together to defeat the "hatred and violence being manufactured against minorities" as well as "rising crimes against women, Dalits, tribals and Kashmiri Pandits".
3 pm: The opposition alliance that will take on the ruling NDA in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections will be called Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) and an 11-member committee will be set up for coordination, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge announced on Tuesday.
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1 pm: Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge said in his inaugural address on the second day of the meet admitted to differences among opposition parties at the state level but noted that these are not ideological.
12:30 pm: Several opposition leaders hit out at the BJP on Tuesday.
TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee: "Its (the meeting's) outcome will be good for the country," she was seen saying in a video released by the Congress.
AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal: "PM Modi made a complete mess of almost every sector in his 10-year rule. Time to get rid of him."
National Conference leader Omar Abdullah: "It is important that we put up a united stand against everything going wrong."
CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury: "The country is under tremendous multi-dimensional assault. The country has to be saved to make a change for the better."
Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashvi Yadav: "We have got together to save the democracy, Constitution and brotherhood...There is only talk of hatred while issues concerning the common man, farmers, and youths are being ignored."
KMDK General Secretary ER Eswaran: "We have to protect the nation and defend the rights of our fellow citizens...Undoubtedly, in 2024, our alliance should govern the country and restore the old era."
President of the Indian Union Muslim League KM Kader Mohideen: "The British divided and ruled India. Today, the BJP is dividing and ruining the country. This meeting has been convened to save the country from the BJP."
12 pm: Day 2 of the key opposition meeting is about to begin. Deliberations will aim at giving the grouping of 26 opposition parties a name, structure and common agenda to take on the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
DAY 2
9 pm: The informal dinner meetng of opposition leaders has ended.
8:30 pm: Sonia Gandhi and Mamata Banerjee were seated next to each other. Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, M K Stalin, Nitish Kumar, Arvind Kejriwal, Hemant Soren, Akhilesh Yadav, Lalu Prasad Yadav and Tejashwi Yadav, were among those who attended the dinner meeting.
Discussions were held to finalise the agenda for the formal talks starting Tuesday morning.
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Among others at the meeting hosted by Siddaramaiah were Tejashwi Yadav, Akhilesh Yadav, Uddhav Thackeray (Shiv Sena-UBT), Farooq Abdullah (NC) and Mehbooba Mufti (PDP), besides Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M), D Raja (CPI), Jayant Chaudhary (RLD) and MDMK MP Vaiko.
7 pm: The dinner meeting attended by prominent opposition leaders is underway.
6:59 pm: "United We Stand" is the slogan on posters that dotted the streets of Bengaluru with pictures of opposition leaders.
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6:45 pm: Lalu Prasad Yadav and Tejashwi Yadav reach Taj West End.
5 pm: Aam Admi Party (AAP) MP Raghav Chaddha on Monday said that the coming together of like-minded opposition parties is giving "sleepless nights" to the Bharatiya Janata Party.
16:49 pm: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav has arrived in Bengaluru.
4:29 pm: Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, and party leader Rahul Gandhi have arrived in Bengaluru to participate in the two-day meeting of opposition parties.
Earlier, Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) leader Jayant Singh and Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) general secretary Vaiko arrived at the Bengaluru airport.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin and party MP TR Baalu reached Bengaluru in the afternoon.
3 pm: West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee has left for Bengaluru as have Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, JD(U) chief and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, RJD chief Lalu Prasad, Bihar Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav, JD(U)'s national president Rajiv Ranjan Singh and Bihar Water Resources Minister Sanjay Kumar Jha.
2:45 pm: Congress general secretary organisation KC Venugopal at the presser said he was "sure that this is going to be a game changer for Indian political scenario." The Parliament session is also starting on July 20 and the opposition parties will chalk out the strategy for that also, he added. (PTI)
2:30 pm: Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh in a press conference on Monday took a dig at the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) meeting announced today.
"There used to be no talk about NDA and suddenly since the past few days we are hearing and reading about it. Suddenly, it was reported that an NDA meeting has been called for tomorrow. So NDA, which had become a ghost, attempts are now being made to breathe a new life into it," Ramesh said. (PTI)
2 pm: What is on the agenda? (as per sources quoted by PTI)
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1.30 pm: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge claimed that seeing the Opposition getting together, the BJP was "rattled" and was now bringing together parties that have already splintered, in order to show numbers.
Kharge said Opposition parties have been meeting and coordinating for a long time, even in Parliament, but he had not heard of the 30 parties of the NDA meeting before. (PTI)
1 pm: Senior BJP leader and former Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad at a press conference on Monday ridiculed Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal for going to attend the opposition parties' meeting in Bengaluru instead of being in the national capital to provide relief to the people affected by the flood.
"Opposition parties' meet in Bengaluru is a meeting of opportunists and power-hungry leaders," Prasad told PTI.
12:30 pm: "May the seeds sown in this peaceful garden of harmony (Karnataka) bear the fruit to restore secular, socialist, and democratic values as enshrined in our Constitution," Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said in a tweet as he welcomed prominent opposition leaders.
(With inputs from Express News Service, PTI, ANI, IANS)