Bypolls show mood of nation: Naidu after meeting K’taka chief minister
BENGALURU: Continuing his efforts to build an opposition alliance for the 2019 general elections, Andhra Pradesh chief minister and Telugu Desam Party chief N Chandrababu Naidu met his Karnataka counterpart HD Kumaraswamy and his father and former prime minister HD Deve Gowda of the Janata Dal (Secular) in Bengaluru on Thursday.
The hour-long meeting came two days after results of by-elections to five seats in Karnataka were announced. The Congress-jd(s) coalition won four seats, defeating the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) even in its stronghold of Ballari.
Naidu, who met Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar and National Conference president Farooq Abdullah in Delhi last week – said the bypoll results in Karnataka had boosted his endeavour to unite the opposition.
“What happened in Karnataka? [The coalition] swept the elections and that shows the mood of the nation. We will all discuss together how to take this forward,” he said.
All three leaders addressed reporters together after their meeting at Deve Gowda’s residence. “This meeting was conducted to strengthen the hands of all secular forces for the nation. After Chandrababu Naidu’s return to national politics, I feel 1996 will be repeated again in 2019,” Kumaraswamy said, referring to a
› What happened in Karnataka? [The coalition] swept the elections and that shows the mood of the nation. We will all discuss together how to take this forward.
N CHANDRABABU NAIDU, Andhra Pradesh CM and TDP chief
third front government formed that year with Deve Gowda as the Prime Minister.
He said that the meeting was part of a series of initiatives being taken by regional leaders and that they had also been invited to attend a public event planned by West Bengal chief minister Mamata Bannerjee in January.
Deve Gowda said it was the responsibility of secular parties to band together to defeat the Bjp-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “destabilising” constitutional institutions.
“In this regard, Chandrababu Naidu has taken the lead and has met Rahul Gandhi, regional leaders like Sharad Pawar (Nationalist Congress Party), Farooq Abdullah (National Conference), Mayawati (Bahujan Samaj Party), Mamata Bannerjee (Triamool Congress) and MK Stalin (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam),” the 85-year-old former PM said.
Naidu was a key member of the NDA till March this year and parted ways with the BJP over the denial of his demand for special category status to Andhra Pradesh. He has already met Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, Loktantrik Janata Dal leader Sharad Yadav, former finance minister Yashwant Sinha and Communist Party of India (CPI) leaders D Raja and S Sudhakar Reddy.