Opposition parties gather in Chennai for the second leg of unity show

CHENNAI | NEW DELHI: The second unity show of Opposition parties will be on display in Chennai on Saturday when top leaders of various Opposition leaders line up to felicitate DMK chief M Karunanidhi on his 94th birthday and where anti-BJP discourse will be the political flavour.

Those who have confirmed participation include Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, JDU president Nitish Kumar, BSP supremo Mayawati, SP leader Akhilesh Yadav, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury, CPI national secretariat member D Raja, National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah, Trinamool Congress representative Derek O Brien, Indian Union Muslim League chief KM Khader Mohideen and Puducherry chief minister V Narayanasamy. RJD chief Lalu Prasad has pulled out citing ill health.

The leaders are expected to air their shared concern about the policies of the Narendra Modi government, the politics of BJP and the resolve to face the electoral challenge of the ruling establishment collectively. The timing of the event is important as DMK's archrival AIADMK is in a flux after the death of J Jayalalithaa.

While AIADMK's internal crisis is expected to make party legislators increasingly vulnerable to political pulls, it is widely expected that the AIADMK may extend support to the BJP-led NDA in the presidential polls, making it all the more easier for the ruling side to get its nominee elected to Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Yet, AIADMK's vulnerability after Jayalalithaa's death has made parties like DMK position to make use of the vacuum, something that has also prompted DMK to make a big show of Karunanidhi's birthday.

This will be the second occasion prominent Opposition leaders will be coming together in recent times. Last Friday, leaders of 17 Opposition parties attended a luncheon hosted by Congress president Sonia Gandhi which turned into an occasion to discuss the strategy for the presidential election, while scripting a larger plot for a grand alliance against BJP for 2019 polls.

After the pubic function, Rahul Gandhi will address a meeting of the Tamil Nadu PCC leaders. The Congress and DMK are likely to have an alliance in anticipation of an early elections in the state given the volatile state of affairs in AIADMK.