KC Venugopal, General Secretary of All India Congress committee, will visit Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray’s residence Matoshree around 8.30 pm on Monday with an aim to build national unity of opposition parties for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
For the Congress, this is an important step towards bringing together regional allies, who are not a part of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA).
For the Shiv Sena, it is crucial optics that a senior leader comes visiting at Matoshree, the residence which has seen several top leaders from Lalkrishna Advani and Atal Bihari Vajpayee to Amit Shah as guests.
In the backdrop of the recent differences between the alliance partners on several core issues, including Veer Savarkar, the meeting assumes significance.
“Venugopal will invite Uddhav Thackeray for a national meeting of all party chiefs which is to be hosted by the Congress in Delhi," a top source told CNN-News18.
Venugopal will discuss several issues with Thackeray. “After this meeting, several key issues will be discussed in Delhi. There will be a discussion on the issues that are to be raised in Parliament, the common grounds and common programmes. There will be a discussion on the differences. We will speak about holding joint rallies and press conferences," a senior leader said.
RAHUL MEET?
There is no official word on whether Rahul Gandhi will meet Uddhav Thackeray thereafter.
Sources said this meeting has nothing to do with those plans, if any. The Shiv Sena (UBT) had claimed a few days ago that Gandhi will soon meet Thackeray.
“This is a part of a national exercise that the Congress has been conducting. We have been coordinating with 17-18 parties. During the past few days of this session, the party has reached out to several regional players. That’s why Nitish Kumar, Tejaswi Yadav and Sharad Pawar visited," a senior Congress leader said.
He added that the party would also approach regional players who are not a part of the UPA officially, but who are in alliance with the Congress regionally. “Even those parties which are not officially in the UPA even regionally, but are opposed to the BJP, are being looked at. We will approach them as well," a senior leader said.
NEXT MEETING IN DELHI
After this outreach by Venugopal, a meeting with opposition leaders will be held in Delhi.
Sources in the Sena said it was unlikely that Thackeray will attend the meeting in Delhi.
“The Sena will of course be interested to be a part of the opposition unity. But our senior leaders, who are our MPs, will likely attend that meeting," a senior leader said.
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