Sonia Gandhi may attend Opposition meet in Bengaluru

Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi is expected to attend the next meeting of opposition parties in Bengaluru on July 17 and 18, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar said on Monday.

He said the Congress party will hold a silent protest at Freedom Park in Bengaluru on July 12 as a mark of protest against the disqualification of its leader Rahul Gandhi from the Lok Sabha.

"A meeting of leaders of all opposition parties (in the country) will be held on July 17 and 18, as already announced. All the leaders are going to come. (M) Mallikarjun Kharge (All India Congress Committee president) has requested Sonia Gandhi to participate in this meeting. We have got a message that she will be participating in this meeting," Shivakumar said.

Speaking to reporters in Bengaluru, he said, "We will welcome all leaders who want to join this great movement for change in this country."

The first such meeting of opposition parties, keeping in mind the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, was held in Bihar's Patna on June 23.

Earlier, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar had said the next opposition meet will be held in Bengaluru on July 13-14. As those dates were said to be clashing with Assembly sessions in a few states, it was rescheduled to July 17 and 18.

Shivakumar, who is also Karnataka Congress president, said the party under the leadership of Kharge has decided to hold silent protests on July 12 at all the state headquarters against the disqualification of Rahul Gandhi from the Lok Sabha.

"I don't want to speak about the Court verdict, but the political conspiracy that is going on against Rahul Gandhi to finish him off politically, we condemn it," he said.

The protest will be held from 10 am to 4 pm at Freedom Park in Bengaluru by 'covering our mouth with black cloths', Shivakumar said.

All office-bearers, public representatives and a large number of workers of the party, including Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, will be participating in the protest against the 'conspiracy of the Bharatiya Janata Party government at the Centre', Shivakumar said.

The Congress has said it will move the Supreme Court, after the Gujarat high court refused to stay Rahul Gandhi's conviction in a 2019 defamation case over his Modi surname remarks, and alleged that the government is finding newer techniques to throttle his voice.