Chandrababu Naidu steps up efforts to build third front; meets Sharad Pawar, Farooq Abdullah

In a bid to build a pan-India alliance to take on the BJP in next year general election, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president N. Chandrababu Naidu met Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar and National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah in New Delhi on Thursday.

Mr. Naidu “coincidentally” also met senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad at the Indira Gandhi International Airport and briefly discussed about need to bring all non-BJP political parties together, sources in the TDP said.

The TDP chief is likely to call on Congress president Rahul Gandhi later in the day.

This is Mr. Naidu’s second visit to New Delhi in less than a week. Last week, after separately meeting Mr. Abdullah, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati, and former BJP leader Yashwant Sinha, he said “political compulsions” would force non-BJP parties to come together to form a third front.

Mr. Naidu quit the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance early this year over the Centre’s refusal to grant special status to Andhra Pradesh.