india

Updated: Dec 03, 2018 18:06 IST

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) chief MK Stalin will meet former Congress president Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi on December 10 to invite her for a ceremony to unveil statues of former Tamil Nadu chief ministers Muthuvel Karunanidhi and CN Annadurai.

Gandhi has already indicated that she would attend the ceremony on December 16, a DMK Parliament member said on condition of anonymity, adding that the invite is a mere formality.

Stalin will meet Gandhi, who heads the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance, when he will be in New Delhi for the meeting of opposition parties on December 10 at Andhra Pradesh chief minister and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader Nara Chandrababu Naidu’s invitation.

“(Naidu) has invited Stalin to work with him for dethroning the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party)...” the lawmaker said and pointed out that Karunanidhi, who passed away in August, and Gandhi shared an excellent rapport. Those discussions will continue during Gandhi’s visit, this person added.

The DMK has also invited the leaders of the Trinamool Congress, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India, TDP, Janata Dal (Secular), Nationalist Congress Party, Telugu Rashtriya Samiti and Aam Admi Party for the ceremony at its headquarters — Anna Arivalyam. It will be the second platform for uniting the opposition parties to take on the BJP after the New Delhi meeting.

Tamil Nadu has the most number of Lok Sabha seats, 39, after Uttar Pradesh (80), Maharashtra (48), West Bengal (42) and Bihar (40). The DMK and Congress have been in alliance in the state along with some smaller regional parties and are likely to contest the upcoming polls together.

DMK’s arch-rival, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, swept the Lok Sabha polls in Tamil Nadu and won 37 seats in 2014. The Congress and DMK contested separately and failed to win any seats while the BJP and its alliance partner, Pattali Makkal Katchi, managed one each.

“After Karunanidhi’s demise on August 7, the DMK general body and the executive committee selected his younger son, Stalin, as DMK president. Stalin has to prove his political acumen, and is engaging with national leaders,’’ said former Gandhigram Rural Institute professor G Palanithurai.

“Therefore, he is attending the opposition parties meeting in New Delhi and has also called them for the statues unveiling function in Chennai as a show of strength.”