New Delhi: The third meeting of the opposition alliance I.N.D.I.A., scheduled for August 25-26 in Mumbai, is likely to be postponed till the first week of September, according to sources on Saturday.
They stated that NCP leader Sharad Pawar, whose party recently witnessed a schism, will be among the leaders who will be unavailable next month due to a visit to Maharashtra beginning in the middle of August.
"August 25-26 is still under consideration, but we are looking at another set of dates to ensure that everyone is available," a top leader of the INDIA bloc in Mumbai stated.
The chief of the Maharashtra Congress, Nana Patole, said at a press conference after a meeting of the Maha Vikas Aghadi on Friday that the MVA leaders have rallies scheduled for August that had been delayed because of the monsoon.
On the next Saturday, the MVA's constituents, the Congress, the NCP, and the Shiv Sena (UBT), will get together once more.
The Congress is heading the 26-party opposition alliance nationally, but before a rupture between the Shiv Sena and the NCP, it was seen as a junior partner in Maharashtra due to its lower assembly representation.
Before Ajit Pawar's mutiny caused a split in the NCP, former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray was presented as the leader of the MVA during the coalition's 'Vajramuth' rallies.
Thackeray's party has taken the initiative in planning the opposition alliance's conference in Mumbai.
According to information we have received, the Shiv Sena is in charge of scheduling the gatherings. The dates of August 25-26 were the ones we were given. It has come to light that Sharad Pawar will be out of the office on those dates. When trying to collaborate with 26 different people, hiccups like these are to be expected. We ran across similar problem even while arranging the Patna summit," another leader revealed.
Some opposition party leaders, the sources claim, are sceptical of Pawar because of an upcoming event on August 1 in Pune at which he would appear with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Members of the I.N.D.I.A. bloc reportedly voiced their concerns about having a senior member of the alliance share the stage with Modi at a meeting on Friday.
The I.N.D.I.A. group has held two meetings, the first in June in Patna and the second earlier this month in Bengaluru.—Inputs from Agencies