Mumbai Opposition may be postponed as several INDIA leaders unavailable on August 25-26

An upcoming Opposition meet in Mumbai may be postponed as several leaders of the INDIA coalition have flagged their unavailability. The meeting - scheduled for August 25 and 26 - is likely to be postponed until the first week of September. The third meeting will be hosted by the Maha Vikas Aghadi members, with former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena (UBT) taking the lead in organising.

"August 25-26 is still under consideration but we are looking at another set of dates to ensure that everyone is available," a senior leader of the INDIA bloc in Mumbai said.

The INDIA bloc's first meeting was held in Patna in June and the second in Bengaluru earlier this month.

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NCP chief Sharad Pawar, whose party recently saw a split, will embark on a tour of Maharashtra from mid-August and is among the leaders who will be unavailable next month. 

"The Shiv Sena is coordinating the meeting dates as far as we have been told. We were given to understand that it was August 25-26. Now, we hear that Sharad Pawar is unavailable on those days. These things happen when one has to coordinate with 26 parties, nothing unusual. We faced this issue even when the Patna meeting was being planned," another leader said.

However with the senior politician slated to share the stage with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 1, many lawmakers have also voiced concern. Some members have reportedly said that that a senior member of the alliance sharing stage with Modi will reflect badly on the coalition.

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Meanwhile, Union minister Ramadas Athawale on Saturday lamented the exit of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD(U) from the NDA despite his “good relations” with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “Koi faayda nahin hai (it will be of no use)”, said Athawale, asserting that it was his “advice” to Kumar to refrain from attending the meet.

“He seems to be not happy in that camp. He was unhappy with the acronym INDIA but Rahul Gandhi prevailed”, said Athawale, referring to speculations in a section of the media that emerged after the new name was announced at the meeting in Bengaluru earlier this month.