Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav will join the Congress and other opposition parties in the December 10 meeting called by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and Telugu Desam Party supremo N Chandrababu Naidu to chalk out a common strategy to fight the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
“I will attend the all-party meet in Delhi, it is important that I should go and attend it,” Yadav said at the rally organised by his younger brother Shivpal Singh Yadav, who is president of Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia).
The Bharatiya Janata Party has already dismissed the meeting of the opposition parties on the eve of Parliament session beginning from December 11 as a “coalition of rivals”.
The BJP also poked fun at the meeting, saying the traditional meeting of the opposition on the eve of every Parliament session is being projected as “opposition conclave”.
Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejrival is also likely to attend the meeting in Delhi. It will be the first time that AAP will attend such a formal meeting of opposition parties, although its leaders have participated in protests such as the Bharat Bandh called by Congress on September 10 against rising fuel prices.
Initially scheduled to be held in November, the opposition meeting was delayed due to the assembly polls in five states that are seen as a semifinal for the Lok Sabha polls in 2019.
TDP leader Chandrababu Naidu has been spearheading an effort to bring together major regional parties to put up a common front against the BJP in 2019.
No confirmation is available yet about the participation of Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati or any of her party colleagues in the meeting.
Earlier, Naidu had said he would speak to Mayawati, who has indicated that she would not be a part of their alliance.
“Those opposing the BJP, those who want to save this nation, will work together,” he said.
The Congress’ failure to tie up with the BSP in the poll-bound states, particularly in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, is seen as a setback to the efforts for forging an anti-BJP alliance.
Along with Naidu, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar is also involved in efforts to resolve differences between the Congress and its rival political parties to ensure that a broad-based alliance is firmed up to take on the BJP in the 2019 elections.
