Lok Sabha Election 2019: Chandrababu Naidu meets Deve Gowda, Kumaraswamy; seeks opposition unity

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu Thursday met former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda and Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy in Bengaluru. Naidu is trying to unite opposition parties to take on BJP in the Lok Sabha elections next year. “It is the responsibility of all secular parties including Congress to come together to replace NDA govt,” said Former Prime Minister and Janata Dal (Secular) leader Deve Gowda.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu meets former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda and Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy in Bengaluru pic.twitter.com/HCrWHB41BH

— ANI (@ANI) November 8, 2018

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“Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has taken the lead and met several leaders to consolidate all secular parties to remove NDA govt in 2019. He met me & HD Kumaraswamy today to work out further strategy,” he said.

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.

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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.