New Delhi, June 22: National Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar will host a meeting of opposition leaders in Delhi today. Leaders of the Trinamool Congress (TMC), Communist Party of India, National Conference and other political outfits have been invited by Sharad Pawar. However, there is no clarity whether NCP's two allies in Maharashtra - Shiv Sena and Congress - would attend today's opposition parties' meeting or not. Shiv Sena MLA Pratap Sarnaik, Under ED Scanner, Writes to CM Uddhav Thackeray To Reconcile With BJP.

The meeting was called hours after Pawar met with political strategist Prashant Kishor at his residence in Delhi. It was Pawar's second meeting with Kishor this month. Kishor visited Pawar at his residence in Mumbai on June 11. Reports suggest that today's meeting is first effort by Pawar to unite opposition leaders against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Any Anti-BJP Front is Not Possible Without Congress, Says Nana Patole.

NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik has given a list of politicians and prominent persons who are to attend today's meeting. Below are their names.

  • TMC leader Yashwant Sinha

  • AAP MP Sanjay Singh

  • National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah

  • D Raja

  • Pawan Verma

  • AP Singh (retd)

  • Javed Akhtar

  • KTS Tulsi

  • Karan Thapar

  • Ashutosh

  • Majeed Memon

  • Vandana Chavan MP,

  • SY Qureshi

  • KC.Singh

  • Sanjay Jha

  • Sudheendra Kulkarni

  • Colin Gonsalves

  • Ghanshyam Tiwari

  • Pritish Nandy

"They (Pawar and the leaders) will discuss the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and the current political situation in the country. After this, the leaders would decide on how to bring the other important opposition political parties together," Malik said. Earlier this year, Pawar had promised to unite all opposition parties and present a formidable front against the BJP before the next Lok Sabha polls.

Before meeting opposition leaders today at 4 pm, Pawar will also chair meeting of NCP's National Working Committee and discuss the upcoming parliamentary elections and current political situation in the country.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 22, 2021 08:26 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).