Drop Anti-Congress stance: Stalin tells Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal

The Tamil Nadu leader met Kejriwal hours before the meeting of the opposition parties in the National Capital and a day after meeting Congress president Rahul Gandhi.

M K Stalin with Arvind Kejriwal. Also in picture is Kanimozhi. (Photo: Twitter)

NEW DELHI: DMK president M K Stalin advised Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday not to maintain an anti-Congress stance for the sake of a ‘Mahagathbandhan’ (grand alliance) of opposition parties in the run up to the Lok Sabha elections.

READ | Stalin meets Arvind Kejriwal prior to opposition parties meeting

Stalin’s suggestion to Kejriwal has again triggered speculation of an AAP-Congress alliance for the general elections in Delhi, Haryana, and Punjab. The Tamil Nadu leader met Kejriwal hours before the meeting of the opposition parties in the National Capital and a day after meeting Congress president Rahul Gandhi. “Don’t keep a negative stance against the Congress. The country needs a Mahagatbandhan (grand alliance) and you have a role in it,” Stalin reportedly told Kejriwal.

The development comes just a day after senior AAP leader and Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh announced that the party is not in talks with the Congress for a possible anti-BJP alliance. Singh, however, had hinted that the decision is not final when he said that there is a need for an anti-BJP formation to trounce the BJP.

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On several occasions, the AAP has complained that the Congress did not reach out to it. In August, during the election of the Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha, the AAP was miffed that Rahul did not ask for its support for the voting on the floor of the House.

The AAP had also announced that it will not join any opposition alliance against the BJP for the general elections. But, in a recent softening of the stance, Kejriwal and Rahul shared the stage at the farmers’ protest in Delhi on November 30. AAP sources said during the 30-minute-long meeting on Monday, the DMK president urged Kejriwal to drop his “resistance” against the Congress. At the opposition meeting, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu also asked the opposition parties to bury their differences for the sake of democracy.

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It will be now interesting to watch if and how the chief of the Aam Aadmi Party, which came to power in Delhi after a relentless agitation against the then ruling Congress, will pay heed to the advice against its arch-rival BJP.