DMK chief Stalin to skip INDIA bloc meeting on June 1, say reports

CHENNAI: In an unexpected development, DMK president and Chief Minister MK Stalin, one of the key leaders of the INDIA bloc, will not be attending the opposition coalition’s meeting that is scheduled to be held in Delhi on June 1.

Instead, Stalin has deputed DMK’s senior leader TR Baalu to attend the meeting, said a Thanthi TV report on Friday.

Earlier, Stalin was reportedly planning to attend the meeting in Delhi, where the senior leaders of the alliance partners were expected to assess their performance in the Lok Sabha election and the strategy to be adopted to keep the flock together after the June 4 counting of the Parliamentary polls.

With both ruling and opposition fronts predicting favourable outcome for them, the meeting on the day of the seventh and final phase of polls was seen as INDIA bloc’s plan for a show of strength, more so when West Bengal Chief Minister and AITMC leader Mamata Banerjee has chosen to abstain from the meeting owing to the elections in her State and to deal with the aftermath of Cyclone Remal.