Delhi Opposition Meet: MK Stalin meets Arvind Kejriwal, Asks to join

Hours before the opposition meet today, Dravida Munnetra Kazgham President MK Stalin met Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. According to reports, AAP convenor is likely to participate in the meeting for the first time.

The meeting of Stalin and Kejriwal is reported to have lasted almost 20 minutes. If the report is anything to go by, Stalin pleaded Delhi Chief Minister for opposition unity.

According to The Hindu, Stalin asked Kejriwal to drop his adversarial stance towards the grand old party and to join hands with Opposition to construct an anti-BJP platform

However, sources in the AAP said that Kejriwal could be in a minority. Senior leaders of his party including Manish Sisodia and Gopal Rai are adamantly opposed to any hobnobbing with the Congress, who are their rivals both in Delhi and Punjab.

Apparently, Congress has constantly tried to block AAP’s participation in the Opposition front. In the last skirmish between the two, AAP had refused to vote in favour of the opposition candidate for the post of Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman, after Congress president Rahul Gandhi failed to call on Kejriwal seeking his support. AAP had had three votes in the RS.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Arvind Kejriwal had recently shared a stage for the first time at Kisan Mukti Morcha rally.  There too, Communist Party of India (Marxist) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury made the two leaders talk and assure each other of one-on-one dialogue to sort out the differences.

It is to be noted that a day before the results of five state are declared, the opposition parties are holding a meeting in Delhi to discuss a Mahagathbandhan for the 2019 general elections.

Also read: BJP takes jibe at all-party meet, asks opposition to reveal Prime Ministerial candidate’s name