Naidu will ask Mamata to back BJP’s choice for President
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and TDP president N. Chandrababu Naidu will soon be calling on West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee to wean her away from the opposition camp on the issue of elections for the President of India. Naidu, who enjoys a good rapport with Banerjee, will meet her on behalf of the ruling NDA. A decision on Naidu meeting Mamata was taken at the suggestion of BJP president Amit Shah at a luncheon meeting at the CM’s official residence at Amaravati on Thursday. Shah asked Naidu to meet Mamata on behalf of the NDA and explore the possibility of securing her support to the NDA nominee for the President’s post.
Union minister Venkaiah Naidu, too, was present at the meeting, which was arranged in the honour of Shah, who paid a day-long visit to AP on Thursday. The leaders briefly discussed the scenario of the President’s election a day before the opposition leaders converged at the residence of Congress president Sonia Gandhi in Delhi on Friday.
TDP sources told this newspaper that the proposal of Naidu meeting Mamata on the issue of the Presidential election, indicates that the last word has not yet been written on the Bengal CM backing an opposition sponsored candidate for the post.
A senior TDP MP even commented that efforts would be made to wean away some of those leaders who went to Sonia Gandhi’s residence on Friday.