Mamata, Abhishek to reach Bengaluru today to attend Oppn parties’ meet

Kolkata: Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) chairperson Mamata Banerjee along with national general secretary of All India Trinamool Congress Abhishek Banerjee are scheduled to travel to Bengaluru on Monday afternoon to attend the second Opposition meet scheduled on July 17- 18.

Top leaders of at least 24 political parties are slated to attend the meeting convened by the Congress which is aimed at forging Opposition unity to oust the BJP from power in the Lok Sabha elections 2024.

The TMC supremo is, however, likely to skip the dinner on Monday evening as she has to follow post-surgery protocols.

She had undergone microsurgery on her left knee at SSKM Hospital last Thursday. Doctors had given her permission to fly and attend the Opposition summit but she has been advised to rest as much as possible.

According to sources, she will be attending the day-long meeting on July 18 but will skip dinner the day before.

Abhishek Banerjee and her party’s Rajya Sabha MP Derek O’Brien are, however, scheduled to attend the dinner.

The first Opposition meeting took place in Patna last month that was hosted by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

Since then, a split in Sharad Pawar’s NCP and his nephew Ajit Pawar’s shift to the Eknath Shinde BJP coalition in Maharashtra may have somewhat dampened the Opposition unity.

However, TMC and the Congress have shown support to Sharad Pawar and said that the Opposition unity has been strengthened further.

Congress Parliamentary party chairperson Sonia Gandhi who was not present during the meeting at Patna will be present this time.

It is learnt that Sonia Gandhi had called up Banerjee on Friday urging her to come in person and attend the meeting in Bengaluru.