New Delhi, July 3 (IANS) Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh on Monday said that BJP’s operation in Mumbai has strengthened the opposition resolve.

“Yesterday, when the BJP washing Machine restarted in Mumbai with its Income Tax, CBI, ED (ICE) detergent, BJP-inspired obituaries on Opposition unity were being planted. The obit writers will be disappointed,” Ramesh said. 

He said that the next meeting of the opposition parties -- which met in Patna on June 23 -- will be held in Bengaluru on July 17 and 18. “If anything the Mumbai operations have strengthened opposition’s resolve,” Ramesh said.

His remarks came after Congress General Secretary (organisation) KC Venugopal announced that second meeting of opposition parties will be held in Bengaluru on July 17 and 18. 

The second meeting of the opposition parties comes two days prior to crucial Parliament’s Monsoon Session that will begin on July 20 and will continue till August 11. 

The Opposition meeting was initially supposed to take place in Shimla. However, on Thursday (June 29), NCP Supremo Sharad Pawar said that the venue has been shifted to Bengaluru.

The fresh dates of the second meeting of the Opposition parties comes a day after a split in the Nationalist Congress Party’ (NCP) following Sharad Pawar’s nephew Ajit Pawar’s rebellion and alliance with the BJP-Eknath Shinde government in Maharashtra. 

He took oath as Deputy Chief Minister along with eight more party MLAs in the state government and claimed stake as the real NCP.

Meanwhile, AAP and Congress continue to remain at loggerheads over Congress not clearing its stand on Centre’s ordinance row.