INDIA's Mumbai meeting likely to be deferred to Sept

The opposition alliance INDIA is likely to defer its third meeting in Mumbai to the first week of September after some leaders conveyed they may be unavailable on August 25-26 due to other engagements, sources said on Saturday. 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, they said.

"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. Speaking at a press conference after a meeting of the Maha Vikas Aghadi on Friday, Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole said MVA leaders have rallies lined up in August which had taken a backseat due to the monsoon.The MVA constituents -- Congress, NCP and Shiv Sena (UBT) -- are scheduled to meet again next Saturday. 

While the Congress is leading the 26-member opposition alliance's efforts nationally, it was considered a junior partner in Maharashtra due to its numbers in the state assembly till the Shiv Sena and the NCP saw a split in their ranks. Former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray was projected as the leader of the MVA in the 'Vajramuth' rallies of the coalition before Ajit Pawar's rebellion led to a split in the NCP.