The Opposition alliance, the INDIA bloc, will hold its crucial meeting on Monday amid voices of dissent within the bloc, which saw DMK and AAP keeping away. However, 23 political parties will attend the meeting, during which they will redraft their strategies to take on an empowered BJP.
Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge will attend the meeting, which will see the participation of TMC's Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, RJD's Tejashwi Yadav, and Uddhav Thackeray of the Shiv Sena (UBT), besides Left leaders. Notable will be the absence of DMK, which parted ways with the Congress in Tamil Nadu after the latter decided to extend support to the TVK government led by C. Joseph Vijay.
All eyes are on whether Vijay or other senior TVK members will attend the meeting to be held at the Constitution Club in the national capital.
However, reports hint that the TVK will not attend the INDIA bloc meeting as it does not have any Members of Parliament as of now in either the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha. Reports quoting Congress sources said the leadership did not invite parties without MPs for the meeting as per the current framework of the alliance.
However, the biggest setback for the alliance will be the absence of the DMK, which released a statement saying it won’t attend the meeting.
“The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam has been the central force of the India Alliance since its inception. In consideration of the sentiments of the party members who are hurt by the betrayal committed by the Congress party against the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam after the assembly elections in Tamil Nadu, the party will not participate in the India Alliance meeting to be held in Delhi on June 8, i.e. the meeting in which the Congress will participate," the statement said.
However, political pundits state that the Congress would try to woo the DMK, atleast at the national level. However, speculations are that the DMK is in no mood to forgive the Congress. “At the current stage, DMK wants to distance itself from the Congress party. In the future, DMK is likely to support the India alliance based on issues," he said.
