Naidu meets Rahul in a bid to revive third front against BJP
new delhi — Stepping up his efforts to build a pan-India alliance to take on the BJP in 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Andhra Pradesh chief minister and TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu met Congress president Rahul Gandhi, NCP chief Sharad Pawar and National Conference president Farooq Abdullah on Thursday.
The meeting comes amid seatsharing talks for the Assemby elections.
Naidu “coincidentally” also met senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here and briefly discussed about the need to bring all non-BJP political parties together, TDP sources said.
Opposition parties will work together to defeat the BJP, Congress president Rahul Gandhi said in the presence of Chandrababu Naidu.
The parties will work to ensure that the attack on democratic institutions stops, Gandhi said after meeting Naidu, who is trying to unite opposition parties to take on the saffron party in the Lok Sabha elections next year.
Gandhi said opposition parties will work together on most important issues, including unemployment and corruption in the Rafale fighter jet deal.
“It is very clear that corruption is taking place. Institutions that can investigate are being attacked... A proper inquiry on what all happened, where the money went and who did corruption... that is what I am pushing very aggressively. Nation wants to know this,” the Congress president said.
Naidu said he was in discussion with all political parties.
“We will meet on a common platform and chalk out strategies,” he said.
Responding to a question, he said, “You are interested in candidates, we are interested in the nation.”
Accusing the BJP of attacking Constitutional institutions, National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah said on Thursday that “democracy is in danger” as he met Sharad Pawar and N. Chandrababu Naidu.
“Democracy is in danger. People are in danger,” he told the media, as he announced that he along with Naidu and Pawar would convene a meeting of opposition parties to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The country was going through a “great crisis”, he added at Pawar’s residence.
Naidu said the country was facing a lot of problems and the situation was “deteriorating day by day”. —