Stalin inaugurates DMK office in Delhi, Sonia, Akhilesh, Yechury attend

New Delhi, April 2: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on Saturday inaugurated Anna-Kalaignar Arivalayam’, the DMK’s new office in Delhi, sending out a message about his party’s aspiration for a larger role in national politics, as leaders of several Opposition parties flocked the event. Among those present were Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav, National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah, CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury, CPI General Secretary D Raja and MDMK General Secretary Vaiko. Stalin was accompanied by Sonia Gandhi when he inaugurated the party office. The Congress president also inaugurated a library in the building and released a book – Karunanidhi: A Life, written by AS Panneerselvan. SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav, Congress leader P Chidambaram, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Ravindra Kumar, Ram Mohan Naidu, and Jayadev Galla from Telugu Desam Party, Mohua Moitra from Trinamool Congress, and Navaskani from IUML were among leaders who attended the meeting. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Telangana Chief Minister KC Rao, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal were also invited, but could not attend the event. The event comes as attempts are being made by Opposition parties to create a united front, with Congress as a component but not in the lead role. While no BJP leaders were seen at the event, invitations were extended to several leaders from the ruling party as well by DMK Parliamentary party leader TR Baalu. The DMK is currently the third largest party in Lok Sabha, and the second largest Opposition party with 24 MPs. On a three-day visit to Delhi, Stalin has met several top leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Road and Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. On Friday, he met Kejriwal, and visited the national capital’s mohalla clinic and a government school accompanied by the Delhi CM. (UNI)