Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu met his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee in Howrah on Monday. Both the leaders said all parties opposing the BJP were united in their attempt "to save the nation" and will make a strategy to take on the saffron party ahead of the winter session of Parliament. Their meeting came just a few days after their governments withdrew the 'general consent' to the CBI to conduct probe and raids in their states. They said the November 22 meeting of opposition parties which was to be held in Delhi has been postponed due to ongoing assembly elections and a fresh date for the meeting will be announced soon.
The two leaders, were, however avoided to give a straight answer when asked who will be the face of the proposed anti-BJP front. said "compared to Narendra Modi ji, we all are seniors", while Banerjee said "all are the face of the coalition".
Naidu also attacked the NDA government alleging that institutions like the CBI, ED, Income Tax department, RBI and CAG are under "severe pressure".
"We have the responsibility to save the nation, save democracy, save institutions. Democracy is in danger," he said.
"We wanted to meet on November 22 earlier (but) because of the elections... We wanted to make it before the Parliament (winter) session. "Those who are opposing the BJP will join and discuss. We will chalk out a programme to move forward, take this momentum further on the agenda to protect the nation," the Telugu Desam Party chief said after an hour-long meeting with Banerjee.
The TDP chief also confirmed that he will attend the public meeting called by Banerjee on January 19 in Kolkata, where opposition leaders have ben invited, in the run up to general elections.
"We are in touch with Mayawati ji. Those who are opposing the BJP, those who want to save the nation, we will work together. That's our mission," Naidu said, while referring to the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief.
Asked as to who would be the face of the opposition coalition, Mamata Banerjee said, "Everybody, all are the face of the coalition".
"Compared to Narendra Modi ji, we all are seniors. Everybody has enough experience," Naidu said. The TMC chief said, "This is not for the first time that we have discussed about the country's interest... when with Arvind Kejriwal there was a problem, (we) had gone and discussed in detail about our future (course of) action.
"We are totally together, we are working together, we are speaking together. We all are together against the BJP government to save the nation," she said. PTI SCH SNS RT111920
Naidu had earlier said the anti-BJP front, he is trying to form, is in the national interest to save the democracy and the constitutional institutions of the country. Referring to his party’s tie-up with the Congress for upcoming Assembly elections in Telangana, the TDP chief said that although the alliance was a “democratic compulsion”, it was in national interests.
(With PTI inputs)
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