Nitish Kumar, Lalu Prasad, Tejashwi Yadav to travel to Bengaluru in afternoon for Opposition meet

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar along with RJD chief Lalu Prasad and Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav will travel to Bengaluru on Monday for attending the second meeting of the Opposition parties.

Top leaders of 26 Opposition parties are expected to attend the two-day brainstorming session where they are likely to start work on a common minimum programme and announce a joint agitational plan to take on the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

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Kumar will be accompanied by his party JD(U)'s national president Rajiv Ranjan Singh and state Water Resources Minister Sanjay Kumar Jha at the meeting, sources said.

The leaders from Bihar are expected to leave for Bengaluru in the afternoon, they said.

The meeting would begin at 6 pm with the address of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge.

Fifteen parties attended the last meeting for Opposition unity hosted by Kumar in Patna on June 23.

Congress Parliamentary party chairperson Sonia Gandhi is also likely to attend the meeting this time.

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Other top leaders expected to attend the meeting include former Congress president Rahul Gandhi, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, besides former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.

According to sources, the leaders are likely to hold discussions on issuing a joint declaration and move forward on their proposal of putting up common Opposition candidates in a majority of the Lok Sabha seats.

The agenda for the talks would be finalised during discussions before a dinner meeting on Monday evening, they said.

There is a proposal to set up a subcommittee for drafting a common minimum programme and communication points for the Opposition alliance for the 2024 general elections, the sources said.

Besides, the sources said, the plan is also to set up a subcommittee for chalking out the joint programme of parties that includes rallies, conventions and agitations.

A plan to discuss the process for deciding seat sharing on a state-to-state basis is also on the table. The opposition leaders may also discuss the issue of EVM and suggest reforms to the Election Commission, the sources said.

The Opposition leaders also plan to suggest a name for the alliance.