A meeting of all major opposition parties is likely to be held in Delhi on November 22 in what is being seen as the first major move to build a grand anti-BJP front ahead of the next general elections.
The plans for a grand opposition show of strength in the midst of the ongoing state assembly polls were announced by Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu after he met Congress General Secretary Ashok Gehlot in Amaravati on Saturday evening.
Naidu, who has met nearly all top opposition leaders in the last one month in an attempt to bring regional parties on a platform to challenge Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2019, said the parties would decide on the future course of action at the proposed meeting.
Speaking to the media, the Andhra Pradesh chief minister said efforts were on to bring together parties for an anti-BJP bloc ahead of the elections and he would meet his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee on November 19 or 20 to seek her support for the alliance.
“I am not expecting anything out of this. Save democracy and save nation is the agenda for us. We joined the Congress because of democratic compulsions in the interest of the nation. I am appealing to all parties that we should forget our issues. We have to join together for a broader cause,” 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.
He added that the New Delhi meeting would decide on "how to move forward" and also "build an organisational structure" for the anti-BJP platform.
Replying to questions, he said there were only "two platforms" in the country — BJP and anti-BJP. "Political parties should decide which side they are on. If they don't join us, it means they are with BJP," he said. The TDP chief said some parties might join them after the elections to Assemblies in five states and "one or two" might come after the Lok Sabha elections.
Gehlot, meanwhile, said nobody was happy in the four-and-a-half years of the Modi govt’s rule, whether it was farmers, youth, women, the poor or traders. Calling the situation an undeclared emergency, he said the Centre was destroying institutions such as the judiciary, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Election Commission.
The Congress leader said it was time to play an important role to save the country and they would move forward with party chief Rahul Gandhi’s agenda.
(With PTI inputs)
Comments
0 comment