Lok Sabha Election 2019: Chandrababu Naidu to hold talks with Deve Gowda to seal deal

Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu will meet former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda and Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy on Thursday, acc ording to sources. Naidu will meet Gowda at his residence at Padmanabha Nagar and Kumaraswamy would also be present during the meeting, JD-S sources said on Wednesday. Naidu is trying to unite opposition parties to take on BJP in the Lok Sabha elections next year.

ALSO READ |  Diwali 2018: PM Narendra Modi celebrates with soldiers near India-China border in Uttarakhand

Naidu's meeting with the JD(S) supremo comes in the backdrop of Congress-JD(S) coalition resolving. The Congress-JD(S)coalition in Karnataka on Tuesday won two of the three Lok Sabha seats and both assembly constituencies in the fiercely fought by-polls, giving a shot in the arm to the ruling combine that faces frequent questions about its longevity.

BJP had managed to hold on to the Shivamogga Lok Sabha seat.

The electoral sweep by the ruling coalition comes as a boost to it as the by-polls were seen as a barometer of the public mood ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Naidu had called his Karnataka counterpart over phone on Tuesday and congratulated the latter on the JD(S)-Congress combine's "spectacular victory" in the by-elections.

ALSO READ | Don’t live in India if you like players from other countries, Virat Kohli lashes out at fan

JD(S) MLC Sharavana said Naidu's meeting with Gowda is in continuation of the discussions the Andhra Chief Minister was holding with "secular" party leaders across the country.

"The by-polls results that have come is a good development as people of state have understood the need for secular forces. He (Naidu) is expected to seek Deve Gowda's cooperation," he added.

Earlier, Naidu held talks with Congress president Rahul Gandhi. He also met NCP chief Sharad Pawar and National Conference president Farooq Abdullah in the national capital to take forward the alliance talks for the December Assembly elections in Telangana. This move indicates that the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) would join the national opposition front forming against the BJP for the 2019 polls, according to TDP sources.

(With PTI inputs)