Crucial INDIA Meet Begins Ahead Of Counting Day, Trinamool Absent

While the official reason cited for the meeting is to devise a strategy to ensure smooth counting at state and district levels, sources indicate the focus is on keeping the flock together ahead of the results.

The INDIA bloc is holding a crucial strategy meet as the Lok Sabha elections draw to a close. The meeting is being held at the Delhi residence of Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge. Senior leaders of Aam Aadmi Party -- Arvind Kejriwal and Sanjay Singh --  CPM's Sitarm Yechury, National Conference patriarch Farooq Abdullah and others have already reached the venue.

Only Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress is not participating in view of the last phase of the Lok Sabha elections and relief operations for Cyclone Remal that passed through Bengal earlier this week.  

While the official reason cited for the meeting is to devise a strategy to ensure smooth counting at state and district levels, sources indicate the focus is on keeping the flock together.