Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu meets West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee in Howrah (Twitter/ANI)
Andhra Pradesh Chief minister Chandrababu Naidu met his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee Monday to invite her to a meeting of Opposition parties to be held in New Delhi on November 22. The meeting will hold talks on the formation of an ‘anti-BJP’ bloc ahead of the general elections next year and chalk out its future course of action.
Met with West Bengal Chief Minister, @MamataOfficial ji in Kolkata today.
— N Chandrababu Naidu (@ncbn) November 19, 2018
Naidu, whose TDP was earlier an ally of the BJP, has met a spectrum of leaders including Congress president Rahul Gandhi, NCP’s Sharad Pawar, National Conference’ Farooq Abdullah, former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, his Karnataka counterpart H D Kumaraswamy and DMK president M K Stalin as part of his efforts to forge a front against the ruling party.
#WestBengal: Andhra Pradesh CM Chandrababu Naidu meets West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee in Howrah. pic.twitter.com/ct4aQzZYGG
— ANI (@ANI) November 19, 2018
“This is 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 had earlier said, adding that the in the united front, Congress is the main opposition party.
“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,” he said.
The TDP with Naidu at its helm quit the NDA in March this year, citing the centre’s refusal to grant Andhra Pradesh the ‘special category status’.