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Lok Sabha elections: Andhra CM to meet Stalin
With the Lok Sabha elections inching closer, discussions on forming an “secular alliance” to take on the BJP are likely to take centre stage when DMK president M K Stalin meets Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu in the city in a day or two.
By
migrator
migrator
Chennai
Sources said Stalin is likely to host Naidu, who is bidding to unite the opposition parties, at his Cenotaph Road residence here.
It has been learnt that the TDP president could deliver the message Congress president Rahul Gandhi had conveyed to him when the two met last week in the national capital on alliance formation, especially making electoral compromises.
The meeting could be the first in a long list of parleys Stalin is expected to hold on forming an opposition comprising the Congress.
Naidu had earlier told mediapersons after meeting Rahul Gandhi, NCP leader Sharad Pawar and National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah that he would also hold talks with the DMK.
Naidu, who quit the BJP-led NDA and shared dais with Congress bosses at the swearing-in ceremony of his Karnataka counterpart HD Kumarasamy, is also expected to steer the DMK clear of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekar Rao.
Rao, who has dissolved the assembly and called for fresh elections in Telangana, had earlier called on Stalin and pitched the idea of forging a third front sans the two major national parties.
However, a noncommittal Stalin had revealed his intentions on Twitter by “happily welcoming” the meeting between Naidu and Rahul barely a few hours after it happened.
A key figure in forging the grand alliance of the United Front and NDA governments in 1996 and 1999 respectively, Naidu, some Congress leaders here hope, would persuade the DMK to soften its stand and show magnanimity in apportioning seats to allies now.
Sources said the Andhra CM could also allay DMK’s doubts regarding the Rajini factor given that the former has been offering valuable counsel to the actor-politician of late.
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