NAIDU GOES TO DELHI TO STITCH FRONT
Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu will be going to Delhi on Monday to take part in a meeting of non-BJP parties, which is seen as a precursor to stitching a grand alliance at the national level against the ruling party.
Monday’s meeting comes a day before the results in the five states will be announced. It is being viewed as a high stakes battle fought by the BJP and the Congress in the Hindi heartland. Tuesday’s results will also indicate whether the efforts of Mr Naidu to stitch together an antiBJP front along with the Congress, with which it is in alliance for the elections in Telangana, are likely to be successful.
Top Opposition leaders, including several highprofile chief ministers, will huddle in the national capital on Monday to discuss strategies on forming a grand alliance to take on the ruling BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
The meeting, significantly, comes a day before the results of the Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Telangana and Mizoram Assembly polls are due to be announced and the Winter Session of Parlia-ment is scheduled to begin.
The meeting is expected to see heavyweights like West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, Andhra Pradesh CM N. Chandrababu Naidu, Nationalist Congress Party supremo Sharad Pawar, National Conference president Farooq Abdullah in attendance, among others. Congress president Rahul Gandhi and his mother, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, are also likely to be present.
Mr Chandrababu Naidu had taken the lead in gathering all the nonNDA parties to try and form a joint strategy ahead of the 2019 polls to take on the BJP.
Last month Mr Naidu met Congress president Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi.
CPI leaders D. Raja and Sudhakar Reddy have confirmed their participation as they were allies of the Congress alliance (mahakutumi) in the Assembly polls in Telangana.
The CPI(M) will also be sending its representative to the meeting.
It is not yet clear, however, if BSP supremo Mayawati will attend the meeting or not. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal is also expected to attend.
On Sunday, meanwhile, DMK president M.K. Stalin met Congress president Rahul Gandhi and UPA chief Sonia Gandhi and discussed a range of issues. It was, incidentally, Mrs Gandhi’s 72nd birthday, and the DMK leaders wished her on the occasion.
Rahul Gandhi tweeted later: “Shri Stalin and senior members of the DMK visited Sonia Ji in Delhi today to wish her on her birthday. We had a warm and cordial meeting and discussed a range of issues.”
In another tweet, he said: “I look forward to continuing our dialogue and to strengthening our alliance, that has stood the test of time.”
Birthday wishes poured in from all quarters for the UPA chairperson.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi wished Mrs Gandhi, saying in a tweet: “Best wishes to Smt Sonia Gandhi Ji on her birthday. I pray for her long and healthy life.”