'Congress To Participate In Exit Poll Debate', Says Pawan Khera; Day After Boycott Announcement

Senior leaders of the INDIA bloc met here on Saturday to discuss their strategy for the counting of votes on June 4, even as the TMC and PDP skipped the meeting. Senior leaders of the Congress, Samajwadi Party, CPI-M, CPI, DMK, JMM, AAP, RJD, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (Sharad Pawar) met at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge's residence on Saturday afternoon and held discussions, even as the last phase of polling was underway. TMC chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had already said they would not attend the meeting as there were elections in the state, while PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti did not attend the meeting due to personal reasons. "I may not go as my mom has undergone an eye surgery," she had told PTI. Opposition leaders who attended the meeting included Sharad Pawar, Akhilesh Yadav, Tejashwi Yadav, Anil Desai, Sitaram Yechury, Arvind Kejriwal, Bhagwat Mann, Sanjay Singh and Raghav Chadha, Champai Soren, Kalpana Soren, T R Baalu, Farooq Abdullah, D Raja and Mukesh Sahani. Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and K C Venugopal were also present at the meeting.