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The Congress is hoping to make the international conference to commemorate Jawaharlal Nehru’s 125th birth anniversary on Monday a show of strength, with Trinamool Congress' Mamata Banerjee, and Prakash Karat and Sitaram Yechury from the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Samajwadi Party's Mulayam Singh Yadav and the Rashtriya Janata Dal's Lalu Prasad Yadav confirming their presence.
The Congress has not invited the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, stating they do not respect Nehru's ideology. While the Nationalist Congress Party chief, Sharad Pawar, will not be present, his representative D P Tripathi, the party's Rajya Sabha MP, will be there at the event which will attended by several world leaders.
The Congress and the BJP have been engaged in a war of words over Nehru's legacy. The two-day conference has already raised a storm, with the BJP accusing the Congress of playing petty politics by not inviting the prime minister.
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The conference titled 'Nehru's worldview and his legacy; Democracy, Inclusion and Empowerment' will pull together estranged United Progressive Alliance members. Banerjee, personally invited by the Congress high command, was on record as saying, "Leaders like Nehru are beyond political boundaries."
The Left will be represented by Karat, Yechury and D Raja from the Communist Party of India. The Janata Parivar, which recently got together to put up an anti-BJP front, will be present in full force with Janata Dal (United) chief Sharad Yadav, Lalu Prasad and Mulayam Singh Yadav attending. Former Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar is, however, busy with his yatra across the state. There was speculation that the NCP, which till before the Maharashtra elections, was a steady member of the UPA but is now wooing the BJP, would stay away from the event, but that is not the case although Pawar himself will not be there.
Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati has not confirmed her presence but her party will be represented at the event. Political organisations from across the globe that will send representatives include the African National Congress, the Awami League, the Communist Party of China and the Nepali Congress.
