In a move, clearly meant and seen as a counter to the Opposition Unity Meeting in Bengaluru, the BJP held a meeting on Tuesday to court allies – old, existing and possibly new. Chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the meeting comprised 38 parties of the National Democratic Alliance in Delhi. BJP President JP Nadda, on Monday said that 38 political parties being a part of the NDA conclave in Delhi showed how the party had expanded its presence.

Narendra Modi
PM Modi congratulates BJP National President JP Nadda at a felicitation programme organised for the latter at the BJP Headquarters in New Delhi on Jan 20, 2020.IANS

The invitees list

Notably, Ajit Pawar, the breakaway minister from Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party and Eknath Shinde of the Shiv Sena faction, are among the attendees of the meeting. Also figuring on the list of those invited are Chirag Paswan from Lok Janshakti Party who joined the NDA on Monday, OP Rajbhar of the SBSP, Upendra Kushwaha of the Rashtriya Lok Samta Party.

Among those not invited were O Panneerselvam, once a hit in BJP's inner circles, as the party chose to go ahead with his political rival Edappadi K Palaniswami, as the leader of the AIADMK.

Apart from the BJP, the other 37 parties that are a part of the event, include:

  1. AIADMK (All India Anna DMK)
  2. Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde's faction)
  3. NPP (National People's Party Meghalaya)
  4. NDPP (Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party)
  5. SKM (Sikkim Krantikari Morcha)
  6. JJP (Jannayak Janta Party )
  7. IMKMK (Indiya Makkal Kalvi Munnetra Kazhgam)
  8. AJSU (All Jharkhand Students Union)
  9. RPI (Republic Party of India)
  10. MNF (Mizo National Front)
  11. TMC (Tamil Manila Congress)
  12. ITFT (Tripura)
  13. BPP (Bodo People's party)
  14. PMK (Patali Makkal Kacchi)
  15. MGP (Mahasthravadi Gomantak Party)
  16. Apana Dal
  17. AGP (Assam Gana Parishad)
  18. Rashtriya Lok Jan Shakti Party (paras)
  19. Nishad Party
  20. UPPL (United People's party Liberal Assam)
  21. AIRNC (All India NR Congress Pudduchery)
  22. Shiromani Akali Dal Sayunkt (Dhindhsa)
  23. Jansena (Pawan Kalyan)
  24. NCP (Nationalist Congress Party Ajit Pawar)
  25. Lok Jan Shakti Party ( Ram Vilas Paswan's party)
  26. HAM (Hindustani Awam Morcha Jeetan Ram Manjhi)
  27. RLSP (Rashtriya Lok Samta Party Upendra Kushwaha)
  28. SBSP ( Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party Om Prakash Rajbhar)
  29. BDJS (Kerala)
  30. Kerala Congress (Thomas)
  31. Gorkha National Liberation Front
  32. Janathipathya Rashtriya Sabha
  33. NPF (Naga People's Front)
  34. UDP (United Democratic Party)
  35. HSDP (Hill State Democratic Party)
  36. Jan Suraj party (Maharashtra)
  37. Prahar Janshakti party( Maharashtra)

The Opposition Unity Meeting

The two-day Opposition Unity meeting in Bengaluru started at 11am on Tuesday, also its second and concluding day, wherein 26 like-minded parties came together on the shared purpose of taking on the Bharatiya Janata Party in the next year's Lok Sabha Polls.

Ahead of the meeting on Monday, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah hosted a dinner for leaders of the Opposition parties. The Monday meeting was attended by more than 50 leaders from different parties. The Bengaluru-meeting comes close on the heels of a similar gathering in Patna last month to form an anti-BJP political front. The Bengaluru-meet was attended by political heavy-weights like Rahul & Sonia Gandhi, Sharad Pawar, Mamta Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal, among others.

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