Aam Aadmi Party, Tamil Nadu-based parties DMK and TVK on Monday skipped the INDIA bloc meeting underway at the Constitution Club in Delhi.
According to preliminary information, none of the Tamil Nadu parties are attending the meeting. AAP had earlier announced that it was no longer part of the Opposition bloc and did not depute anyone for the meeting.
The DMK had begun distancing from the INDIA alliance after Congress MP Rahul Gandhi decided to ally with TVK, even as DMK — with whom Congress had contested in a pre-poll alliance — resolved to sit in the Opposition.
DMK MPs have also written to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla seeking separate seating arrangements away from Congress in the Lower House.
TVK — the ruling party in Tamil Nadu’s multi-party alliance — is also not attending the meeting.
Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren also did not attend the meeting and sent Sarfaraz Ahmed as his representative. Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray is expected to join virtually.
Sources in Opposition parties that stayed away from the meeting said several regional parties had lost power after allying with the INDIA bloc, including AAP in Delhi, TMC in Bengal, RJD in Bihar, DMK in Tamil Nadu, Shiv Sena (UBT) in Maharashtra and Left parties in Kerala.
Meanwhile, leaders who attended the meeting, including Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav and CPI leader D Raja, said there were several issues related to constituent partners that needed discussion.
This was the first INDIA bloc meeting after the recent poll cycle in which major constituents — RJD in Bihar, TMC in Bengal, Left in Kerala and DMK in Tamil Nadu — were voted out of power.
