Oppn parties...

He had left the alliance on being denied special category status for Andhra Pradesh that would have made the state eligible for central grants to fund development projects. This week, Naidu met Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader MK Stalin,karnatakachiefminister HD Kumaraswamy and his father and Janata Dal (Secular) leader HD Deve Gowda. The TDP is also part of a Congress-led opposition alliance that is fighting the upcoming Telangana assembly elections.

Naidu said he will be meeting West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on November 19. “I am already in touch with her over phone and she will be part of the joint mission,” he said.

“This is a broadly anti-bjp platform. This is in the interest of the nation. Save democracy, save the nation and save the institutions-that is the agenda. That is the national agenda, an utmost important agenda,” Naidu said.

Naidu said he had already met politicians from a wide spectrum of opposition parties including Gandhi, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati, Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav, Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar, National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah and representatives of Left parties. The groundwork for the November 22 meeting has already been laid, he said.

“Now I have convinced everybody. Everybody is willing to cooperate with us. In this experiment, Congress is the main opposition party. They have more responsibility. We have to acknowledge that,” Naidu said.

The meeting will focus on the form and structure of the proposed anti-bjp forum and a course of action to take forward the initiative. A plan of action will be drafted to fight the NDA government over its alleged use of agencies such as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the income tax department to settle scores with political rivals, dismantling of democratic institutions for political gains and the lingering “ill-effects” of the 2016 ban on high-value banknotes, Naidu and Gehlot said.

The outcome of assembly elections due in five states -- Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Rajasthan and Telangana -- will help crystallise a realignment of political parties in favour of the alternative front, Naidu said.

The TDP and Congress leaders said it has become a democratic compulsion for all the responsible parties to come together to oppose the NDA led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “After all, it is a call of the nation to save the country from the despotic rule of Narendra Modi, who will never pay heed to others,” Naidu said.

Asked whether his bitter rival K Chandrasekhar Rao’s Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) will be a part of the proposed alternative front, Naidu said the whole political scenario had been polarised between parties supporting the NDA and opposing it. He appealed to the TRS and the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in Tamil Nadu to decide on which side of the fence they would choose to remain.

Samajwadi Party spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary said, “I can’t say if our party will attend it or not. But SP president Akhilesh Yadav has no Delhi visit around November 22”. Two weeks ago, Akhilesh Yadav met Naidu in Delhi in the presence of SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Trinamool Congress secretary general and West Bengal education minister Partha Chatterjee said only chief minister Mamata Banerjee could speak on the issue.

At her party’s annual rally on July 21, Banerjee announced that the TMC would organise a public rally in Kolkata’s Brigade Parade grounds on January 19, 2019.with leaders of all non-bjp parties attending.

Nawab Malik, spokesperson of the Nationalist Congress Party, said, “Pawarsaab has been talking about the non-bjp alliance at national level for long and we support the move by Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu. We will be part of the meeting convened by him.”

The BJP has,in the past, rubbished efforts to cobble together an opposition alliance, claiming the party’s development agenda will trump any coalition. with the Reserve Bank of India and the Union finance ministry so that women self-help groups can be appointed as banking correspondents to deliver money to beneficiaries in their villages.

“The biggest challenge for any financial inclusion is last-mile connectivity. In places where banks are not available already 3,000 SHG women have been trained to be bank correspondence. Another 2,500 SHGS will be added soon. By end of this financial year, there would be 15,000 to 20,000 women groups working as banking correspondence and earning ₹8,000 to 10,000 per month,” said Sinha.

ECONOMIST RITIKA KHERA SAID THE USE OF AADHAAR IN NSAP WAS A “TERRIBLE IDEA” THAT MAY LEAD TO EXCLUSION AND OTHER PROBLEMS FOR THE BENEFICIARIES. SHE MAINTAINED THAT THE GOVERNMENT HAS THE MEANS TO HAND OVER MONEY TO POOR