To take on the Narendra Modi-led NDA government in the coming Lok Sabha polls, opposition parties have intensified their efforts to form a common platform for all opposition parties, where Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu is being entrusted to take the lead.
Naidu on Thursday met Congress president Rahul Gandhi in Delhi and held discussions with him regarding forming of a united opposition.
“We are coming together to save the nation. We have to forget the past, now it is a democratic compulsion to unite. All opposition needs to be one,” said Naidu after meeting Rahul Gandhi.
Rahul Gandhi, as the leader of the principal opposition party, will lead the campaign that aims to unite other opposition parties, Naidu said, while appealing the Congress president to chart out programme for future of the country. “The principal idea is to defeat BJP and to save Constitution and democracy.”
Echoing Naidu, Rahul Gandhi said Congress will take up unemployment, corruption, Rafale deal and agri sector crisis as the main issues during the forthcoming elections.
Gandhi further said that Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre has demolished institutions such as the Supreme Court, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), and Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
We had a very good meeting, the gist was that we have to defend democracy and future of the country. So we are coming together to work, all opposition forces must unite: Rahul Gandhi after meeting AP CM N Chandrababu Naidu
Earlier on the day, AP CM met NCP chief Sharad Pawar and National Conference supremo Farooq Abdullah.
On Thursday, while addressing party leaders and workers in Vijayawada, Naidu had said he would “impress upon Rahul Gandhi the need to bring together all non-BJP parties on to a common platform”.
“I will meet Rahul Gandhi on Thursday and try to bring him on to a common platform to usher in a new political system in the country,” Naidu said and as if dispelling qualms among TDP leaders and workers over aligning with the Congress, he had said during the press conference.