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Congress President Rahul Gandhi and TDP supremo Chandrababu Naidu gave a message of Opposition unity on Thursday, 1 November, as the two held a meeting at the former’s residence in New Delhi with the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in mind.
Calling the meeting a "good" one, Gandhi said its agenda was defending democracy and the future of the country.
“So we are coming together to work, all Opposition forces must unite.”Rahul Gandhi
Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu underlined the “democratic compulsion to unite.”
“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.”Chandrababu Naidu
Accompanied by TDP MPs Jayadev Galla, CM Ramesh and others, Naidu is said to have discussed an alliance for the 7 December Assembly elections in Telangana with Rahul Gandhi, as well as the agenda for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
According to TDP sources cited by PTI, the two parties are engaged in seat-sharing talks for the Assembly elections.
The meeting between Gandhi and Naidu came minutes after the latter met NCP leader Sharad Pawar and National Conference (NC) President Farooq Abdullah.
These meetings step up the efforts to build a pan-India Opposition alliance to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
‘Have to Protect the Future of This Nation’
Addressing the media after the meeting with Abdullah and Pawar, Naidu said the three leaders met to discuss the possibility of an alliance between “anti-BJP” parties and thus “chalk out” a plan for the future.
Stressing upon the “deteriorating” state of the country, Naidu said:
“We are facing so many problems in this country and as senior leaders we are feeling very bad. We have to protect the future generations and the future of this nation.”Chandrababu Naidu, Andhra Pradesh CM
Naidu also added that the three leaders want to bring in Rahul Gandhi to discuss the issue with him.
Pawar and Abdullah, who were also present for the press briefing, said the leaders are working together to save the democracy and that they will collectively talk to other leaders for the same cause.
Alluding to the crisis within the CBI and RBI, Abdullah said, “The country is going through difficult times and the nation is going though a great crisis. Today, democracy is in danger and we need to save the democracy, the nation and our institutions.”
Naidu the ‘Facilitator’
The meetings on Thursday come after Naidu met BSP chief Mayawati, Farooq Abdullah and former BJP leader Yashwant Sinha in Delhi on 27 October.
TDP sources cited by PTI further said that Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav spoke to Naidu over the phone on Wednesday and the latter will visit Delhi every week to speed up the process of uniting opposition parties.
The TDP chief is said to be playing the role of a "facilitator" to bring together all opposition parties to stop the BJP juggernaut in the 2019 general elections.
(With inputs from PTI)
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