By Bisheshwar Mishra / New Delhi
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and TDP Chief N Chandrababu Naidu today met Congress President Rahul Gandhi for what they called to defend democracy.
Addressing media jointly, Mr. Gandhi said, they have come together to defend democracy.
He said, all opposition parties should be united.
Mr Naidu said, there is a need to forget the past and now it is a democratic compulsion to unite.
Confirming that they were “coming together”, Mr Gandhi said, “The gist of the meeting was that we have to defend democracy and the institutions of the country”.
Mr Naidu, who split from the NDA in March, has taken over the role of a “facilitator” for a broader opposition unity and met Sharad Pawar and Farooq Abdullah earlier today. Recently, the Telugu Desam Party chief was also invited to join the UPA by senior Congress leader Veerappa Moily.
This is Mr Naidu’s second trip to Delhi in less than a week. He has already held a round of preliminary meetings with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Dalit powerhouse Mayawati, Bengal Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee, Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy and the Dravidian parties in Tamil Nadu.
After today’s meeting, Mr Pawar said, “We are here today to welcome other opposition parties to come join us. Let us stand united against this government. What is happening in the CBI, the Enforcement Department and the Reserve Bank is for everyone to see.”
For December’s election In Telangana, Mr Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party will contest 14 of the state’s 119 seats, the Congress will get the lion’s share of 95 and the rest will go to other friendly parties.
The TDP has traditionally been in the anti-Congress camp – both in the state and outside. In the late ’90s, he has contested state elections in alliance with the Left parties, in 1999 and 2004 and also in 2014, it was the BJP. In 2009, the TDP was with the Telangana Rashtra Samiti against the Congress.
Mr Naidu’s recent shift in policy – playing a key role in the opposition at the side of the Congress — marks a complete turnaround. To a party worker, Mr Naidu is said to have admitted that it is “political compulsion” that the TDP must join hands with the Congress and other non-BJP parties, to “save the nation” and “defeat the BJP”.
Met with @INCIndia President, @RahulGandhi ji today. pic.twitter.com/VFxeDjkbFv
— N Chandrababu Naidu (@ncbn) November 1, 2018