The sources, state that alliances for the national election next year are still wide open. (File Photo)
The government's all-party meeting and an opposition get-together on alliances make December 10 a politically packed Monday just a day before the state election results. A scheduling conflict has forced the opposition to move its meeting to a post-lunch affair.
But what is emerging as the downer for the opposition meeting is that a key player in the 2019 coalition efforts, Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), may give it a miss. Congress sources told NDTV that their efforts to convince even her representative Satish Chandra Mishra have failed. They say it is because their efforts to form an alliance for the Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan elections flopped.
The sources, however, state that alliances for the national election next year are still wide open, that Mayawati's absence is a strategic one.
"I think she (Mayawati) wants to see what the results are like on the 11th before committing to anything,'' said a senior leader attending the meet.
The opposition meeting is strategic not just because it helps fix floor strategy before the winter session of parliament from 11 December to January 8 but because it is a roll call for all those that are or will be part of the grand alliance.
"This is the meeting that was called by Chandrababu Naidu last month. We all requested him to hold it later as most people were busy with campaigning,'' said a senior leader who has been part of the talks between opposition parties.
While the BSP seems inclined to skip the meet, DMK's Stalin, Mamata Banerjee, RJD's Tejaswi Yadav, Samajwadi Party's Akhilesh Yadav and either HD Kumaraswamy or his father Deve Gowda are expected to attend the meeting.