Congress leader Sonia Gandhi is expected to participate in the second meeting of opposition leaders, scheduled in Bengaluru on July 17 and 18, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister and state Congress president D K Shivakumar said on Monday. Shivakumar told the media that a majority of Opposition leaders are expected to participate in the meeting. “I am very confident that Sonia Gandhi will also (participate). AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge has requested her to participate in this meeting," he said. The Karnataka Congress, Shivakumar said, will welcome “all leaders of the nation who want to join this great movement for a change in this country”. In June this year, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had hosted the first meeting of Opposition leaders with an objective of forging a united opposition front to fight BJP in next year's Lok Sabha elections. More than 30 leaders from various political parties had participated in the Patna event. Although the second meeting was initially scheduled for July 12 and 13, it was later advanced following the political crisis in Maharashtra after a big chunk of NCP legislators led by Ajit Pawar joined the NDA. Shivakumar also said that Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) will organise a silent protest on July 12 to condemn what he called are attempts by the BJP to finish the political career of Rahul Gandhi. “There is a conspiracy to finish him (Rahul) off politically by making use of a speech he delivered in the state. We condemn this,” he said. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Shivakumar, Congress general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala are among leaders slated to participate in the protest. This is part of protests organised across the country by the party. Shivakumar was referring to Rahul's speech in Kolar, in Karnataka, before the 2019 General Election in which he had made a controversial remark against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which subsequently led to his disqualification from Lok Sabha after a criminal defamation case was filed by a Gujarat BJP legislator and a court in Surat sentenced him to two years in jail. On Friday, the Gujarat High Court declined to stay his conviction in the case. The Congress now plans to move the Supreme Court.
