Sonia Invites Opposition Parties To May 23 Meet; Maya, Didi Seem Non-Committal

UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi has written to DMK chief MK Stalin, the JD(S), Sharad Pawar’s NCP, Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav, in order to gather Opposition parties for a meeting on May 23 – the day the national election results are to be declared, reports NDTV.

Sources said the Congress does not want a repeat of Goa, where it could not form a government despite emerging as the largest party. It wanted to ensure “no time is wasted” on May 23. But at least three key Opposition leaders – Mamata Banerjee, Mayawati and her ally Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav – are likely to skip the meet. Sources said Mamata had told Chandrababu Naidu there was no need for any such meeting before the results are out. Both Mayawati and Mamata Banerjee are seen to be in the race for the top job while MK Stalin has endorsed Congress chief Rahul Gandhi’s name.

N Chandrababu Naidu and Sharad Pawar are likely to attend the May 23 opposition meeting. The Congress has reportedly also reached out to K. Chandrashekar Rao of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, Naveen Patnaik (BJD) and Jaganmohan Reddy of the YSR Congress.