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Rahul Gandhi is all set to attend birthday bash of DMK leader M Karunanidhi

| | Jun 04, 2017, at 02:37 am
Chennai, June 3 (IBNS): Creating speculations of the united Opposition against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government ahead of the presidential election, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi is all set to fly down to Tamil Nadu to attend the birthday bash of former chief minister of the state and DMK leader M Karunanidhi, on Saturday.

In a tweet on Saturday morning, Gandhi said: "Looking forward to being in Chennai later today on the occasion of the 94th birthday celebrations of Kalaignar Karunanidhiji."

Gandhi is also expected to meet the DMK leader MK Stalin which had assumed significance in the political field, as the latter had been vocal against the Modi government recently.

Stalin was seen to protest against the central government twice in recent times for imposing Hindi language in the state.

He was seen to attack the Centre for writing on the milestones of the highways in Hindi language.

The DMK leader even warned the BJP government at the Centre for an anti-Hindi agitation in the state.

Apart from Gandhi, the leaders from various political parties are expected to be present in the birthday celebration which also includes Bihar CM Nitish Kumar.

Nitish's ally party RJD's chief Lalu Prasad Yadav informed on Twitter that he would not be able to accompany the Bihar CM due to ill health.

"Due to sudden ill health, not able to join Kalaigar M karunanidhi's 94th B'day celebrations tom. My best wishes & prayers for @kalaigar89" Lalu said in a tweet.

In last week, 17 non-BJP parties were seen to attend Congress president Sonia Gandhi's lunch invitation where the presidential election in July was one of the topics being discussed.

Though the united force did not propose any candidate but preferred to wait for the Centre's announcement of a name, the Indian politics had witnessed a showcase of united Opposition consisting of 17 parties including the arch rivals like Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party or Trinamool Congress and CPI(M).

Nitish, however, skipped the Congress president's invitation but met PM Modi the next day to discuss developmental issues.

The Bihar CM even earlier said that the kind of grand alliance his state had witnessed back in 2015 is the only way to defeat BJP in 2019 Lok Sabha election.

In 2015, the grand alliance between Nitish-led JDU, Lalu-led RJD and Congress out-shined the saffron party in the state of Bihar.  

Gandhi's visit to the state of Tamil Nadu comes at a time when the AIADMK disintegrated into two factions after the demise of former CM of the state, late J Jayalalitha.

Pranab Mukherjee's presidential term will end in the month of July.

Image: Facebook page of Rahul Gandhi

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