26 vs 38: Oppn, NDA set up a clash of meetings on Tuesday

Here’s how the numbers stack up a day before the countdown, with at least 24 parties arraigned on the Opposition side and 38 on the NDA’s.

Opposition 

With the Congress making it clear that it will oppose the Central ordinance taking over services from the Delhi government, the doubts over the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)’s attendance have been removed and it will attend the two-day meeting in Bengaluru.

The number of parties attending is now 24, with Tamil Nadu’s Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Uttar Pradesh’s Apna Dal (Kamerawadi) expected to come and add to the numbers. This is 11 more than the parties which attended the Patna meting.

Some of the major parties on the Opposition camp include: Congress; Janata Dal (United); All India Trinamool Congress (AITC); Dravida Munntezra Kazhagam (DMK); Aam Aadmi Party (AAP); Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM); Shiv Sena (UBT); Nationalist Congress Party (NCP); Rashtriya Janata Dal; Samajwadi Party (SP)’ CPIM); National Conference (NC); People’s Democratic Party (PDP); CPIML; and the CPI.

The confusion over NCP chief Sharad Pawar’s participation continued, though, in worrying signs for the party, with news coming in that he would be skipping the dinner planned for Monday night. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and NCP leader Supriya Sule, however, said Pawar would be attending the talks on Tuesday.

Kharge said: “I called him up to say that it is important for him to come… He said he is coming on July 18 morning, there is no concern about that.”

Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, who may also skip the dinner, left Kolkata for Bengaluru along with nephew Abhishek Banerjee.

“There is no problem, everyone is coming. Mamata jiis coming, read in the papers Kejriwalji is coming, Nitishji, Tejashwiji, Stalinji… In fact, more people are aligning with us than those present at the Patna meeting,” the Congress president said.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh mocked the NDA meeting called on the same day as the Opposition’s. “Attempts are being made to breathe new life into the NDA. There used to be no talk about the NDA and suddenly since the past few days we are hearing and reading about it,” he said at a press conference in Bengaluru on Monday.

Congress general secretary (0rganisation), KC Venugopal, who was with Ramesh at the press conference, said the Opposition unity meeting would be “a game changer for the Indian political scenario”. “We are very happy to see that after the Patna meeting those who were saying that ‘we are very comfortable in defeating the entire Opposition alone’, have now started meetings. That is the real success of opposition unity,” Venugopal said.

NDA meeting

The BJP on Tuesday said that 38 parties will be present at the NDA meeting, party president JP Nadda said at a press conference Monday.

As of July 15, 19 parties had confirmed their participation in the NDA meeting, after Nadda sent letters to allies — including newer ones like the Ajit Pawar-led NCP faction and Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha — inviting them for the conclave.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also be present at the NDA meeting, seen as the BJP’s bid to display the ruling coalition’s show of strength.

Besides the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, the NDA allies participating in the meeting include a number of smaller parties from Bihar as well as several ruling allies from the Northeast region. They include the Chirag Paswan-led LJP (Ram Vilas), Upendra Kushwaha’s Rashtriya Lok Samta Party, Sanjay Nishad’s Nishad Party (all from Bihar), Anupriya Patel-led Apna Dal (Sonelal), JJP from Haryana, Pawan Kalyan-led Janasena from Andhra Pradesh, AIADMK, Tamil Maanila Congress and Indiya Makkal Kalvi Munnetra Kazhagam (all from Tamil Nadu), All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) from Jharkhand, Conrad Sangma’s NCP from Meghalaya, NDPP from Nagaland, SKF from Sikkim, Zoramthanga’s Mizo National Front, and the AGP from Assam.

Om Prakash Rajbhar, the president of the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP), told The Indian Express earlier that he had not received any letter so far from Nadda to join the NDA meeting. However, came the news that the party had joined the NDA and will fight the 2024 Lok Sabha elections as a part of the alliance. His party too will be present at the event.