Uddhav Thackeray to skip INDIA bloc meeting in Delhi; Sanjay Raut to attend

Mumbai: Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut will attend the opposition INDIA alliance meeting to be held in New Delhi on Wednesday evening to deliberate on the Lok Sabha poll results, party sources said.

Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday said he will also travel to Delhi to attend the INDIA alliance leaders' meeting, but now only Raut will be attending it.

Raut is already in the national capital for the meeting, the sources added.

Thackeray on Tuesday pushed for staking a claim to form the next government at the Centre and said the opposition alliance's leaders will meet on Wednesday in New Delhi to decide on the Prime Minister's face.

He said leaders of the Congress and other parties were holding talks with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Telegu Desam Party (TDP) head N Chandrababu Naidu to explore the possibility of their entry into the bloc.

The Kumar-led JD(U) and the TDP are constituents of the BJP-headed NDA, which is poised to form the next government in the 543-member House.

INDIA bloc leaders will meet at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge's residence Wednesday evening to decide on the strategy to form the government and whether to reach out to former allies Nitish Kumar and Naidu.

Opposition leaders, including Sharad Pawar, M K Stalin, Champai Soren, Akhilesh Yadav, Tejashwi Yadav, Sitaram Yechury, and D Raja are likely to attend the meeting, along with Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.

The TMC will be represented by Abhishek Banerjee, who would be coming from Kolkata.

While the BJP on its own fell short of a majority, it may, as things stand, form the government on the back of its allies.

With support from Naidu's TDP and Nitish Kumar's JD(U), which won 16 and 12 Lok Sabha seats in Andhra Pradesh and Bihar, respectively, and other alliance partners, the NDA crossed the halfway mark.

The TDP and JDU have already dismissed suggestions of defecting to the opposition alliance and have clearly stated that they will remain with the NDA.