india

Updated: Dec 09, 2018 17:30 IST

Ahead of the crucial meeting of opposition parties in their bid to forge an anti-BJP front, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam president and Tamil Nadu leader of opposition,MK Stalin, on Sunday called on veteran Congress party leader Sonia Gandhi on her 72nd birthday. Stalin also discussed a range of issues including poll strategies for 2019 Lok Sabha elections and Mekadatu project of Congress-JD(S)-ruled Karnataka government, which is drawing flak from Tamil Nadu.

The December 10 meeting in the national capital has been called by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) supremo N. Chandrababu Naidu, aimed at brainstorming over a possible front to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

On the 100th day of being elected as the DMK president, Stalin met his alliance party leaders in New Delhi to give invitations for former TN CM and DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi’s statue unveiling function which has been scheduled for December 16 in Chennai.

The DMK president visited Sonia Gandhi’s residence at 11 am and held a discussion with both Sonia Gandhi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi.

The DMK leader was accompanied by party Rajya Sabha MP and his sister M K Kanimozhi, DMK principal secretary T R Baalu, former IT minister A Raja and DMK organization secretary R S Bharathi.

“On behalf of DMK, I wish Sonia Gandhi a happy birthday. Sonia is well known for her commitments towards the principles of secularism. When DMK government ruled TN between 2006 and 2011, Sonia made a platform for the Tamil language to attain the classical language status,” Stalin said in a tweet.

Before leaving for New Delhi, Stalin informed media that he will discuss the Mekadatu issue with Sonia Gandhi.

“While I am meeting the veteran Congress party leader, I will discuss on the Mekadatu project of Karnataka,” he told the media at Chennai airport.

Tamil Nadu CM Edappadi K Palaniswami had slammed DMK for not taking any steps to prevent its ally from executing the Mekadatu project.

A senior DMK leader confirmed that Stalin insisted Sonia to advise Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee to halt the Mekadatu project.

“As informed to the press, our leader urged Sonia Gandhi to stop the Mekadatu project. Team DMK lead by Stalin has discussed the various range of issues with Sonia for more than half-an-hour,” the DMK leader told HT.

He also said that Stalin has explained the current political situations in Tamil Nadu.

“Sonia was also keen to hear about the political climate in the southern state. Stalin has explained each and every aspect of the political situations. They also discussed over the strategies of making alliances, seat-sharing process ahead of LS polls 2019,” the DMK leader, who does not want to be named, told HT.