Pawar's opposition meet today: What we know so far and what to expect

The meet in Delhi comes a day after second round of talks between Pawar and political strategist Prashant Kishor

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar and Trinamool Congress leader Yashwant Sinha have invited leaders from opposition parties to meet on Tuesday, ahead of a Lok Sabha session, with a view to uniting anti-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) parties in the country.

The NCP has said the agenda of the meeting in Delhi will be to discuss the Lok Sabha session and the current political situation in the country, while a party spokesperson has affirmed that Pawar would work to bring opposition parties under a single banner going forward.

The meet will bring together figures from across the anti-BJP spectrum, including leaders like Aam Aadmi Party MP Sanjay Singh, Communist Party of India’s D Raja, Jammu and Kashmir National Conference's Farooq Abdullah and Samajwadi Party spokesperson Ghanshyam Tiwari. The important meet could set the tone for a grand opposition to the ruling BJP.

The discussion will include not only like-minded politicians, but also economists and public figures such as economist Arun Kumar and screenwriter Javed Akhtar.

The meeting comes a day after Pawar sat down with poll strategist Prashant Kishor at his residence for the second time in two weeks, where they reportedly spoke about issues relating to opposition unity. Kishor is widely credited as the architect of recent assembly election results that went against the BJP in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu.

However, in an interview with NDTV, Kishor has said a Third or Fourth Front stood little chance of toppling the BJP.

The meeting organized by the Rashtra Manch is the first after the latest round of assembly elections, where the BJP suffered a major blow after Mamata Banerjee’s TMC emerged with a thumping majority in West Bengal. Though the Congress is likely to be conspicuously absent from the meeting, former Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha has appealed to “mature leaders” in the Congress to give the opposition front due consideration in a separate interview with NDTV.

Invites were reportedly sent at an individual level to three Congress leaders who were part of the G-23 group -- Kapil Sibal, Vivek Tankha and Manish Tiwari, but none are likely to attend, according to The Times of India. The group included 23 members who wrote to the Congress high command last year, calling for a major upheaval in the party’s functioning.

The question of Congress’ involvement in the mega alliance could be a deciding factor, given its national presence. However, the question of leadership in any such alliance is a prickly issue and has often been seen as the major obstacle in these discussions. Moreover, Pawar and company would have to iron out differences between local parties who are in opposition to the Congress at a state-level.