Next Opposition meet in Bengaluru, not Shimla: Sharad Pawar

This comes after the first Opposition meeting in Patna on June 23, where Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge had stated that the subsequent meeting would be held in Shimla to strategize a united front against the BJP.

During the Patna meeting, sixteen opposition parties convened to establish a roadmap for challenging the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Following the four-hour meeting, there were heated exchanges between the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

The AAP declared that it would not attend future opposition meetings involving the Congress until the party publicly condemns the central government's controversial ordinance concerning administrative services in Delhi.

Sharad Pawar clarified that there was no discussion about the "prime ministerial post" during the Patna meeting.

Instead, the focus was on pressing matters such as inflation, unemployment, and deliberate attempts to incite communal violence in certain regions of the country.

The meeting aimed to address these issues and devise strategies to tackle them collectively, he said.

During a joint press briefing after the opposition meeting in Patna, called by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, the participating parties said they intend to contest the polls with a shared agenda and a strategy tailored to each state.

Senior BJP leaders, on the other hand, downplayed the significance of the meeting.

Home Minister Amit Shah referred to it as a mere "photo opportunity," while party president JP Nadda highlighted that the attending leaders were individuals who had been imprisoned by the Congress during the Emergency.

Union Minister Smriti Irani claimed that Congress was seeking the support of opposition parties because it lacked the ability to win elections independently.