Chandrababu Naidu calls upon the opposition parties to unite

CHENNAI: N Chandrababu Naidu the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh and the chief of Telugu Desam Party, had called upon the opposition parties to unite. On Friday evening the meeting will be held at Stalin’s residence in Chennai, DMK sources said. 

“Senior DMK leaders including party treasurer S Duraimurugan, party’s principal secretary T R Baalu and others will be present during the meeting between Stalin and Naidu. Our ‘thalaivar’ has already announced that the DMK will join the alliance against the BJP,” said a senior DMK leader.

The visit by Naidu to New Delhi had given opposition unity a uplift, with a storm of meetings with both national and regional leaders in the opposition. After meeting Rahul Gandhi, Naidu had announced an alliance between the Congress and TDP in Andhra Pradesh and also in Telangana. Naidu later stated that he would be meeting Stalin in an attempt to bring about all the regional parties, along with Congress, under one front. 

“Naidu has already called on Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav, CPM leaders Prakash Karat and Sitaram Yechury; CPI national leaders; NCP founder Sharad Pawar and National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah as well as JD(S) founder Deve Gowda among other regional party leaders. He will also contact Mamata Banerjee to include her party in the alliance,” said the DMK leader.

Madras Institute of Development Studies associate professor C Lakshmanan said that, “among the opposition parties against the BJP in Tamil Nadu, DMK has a strong base and it has been with the Congress in the past. Therefore it is only DMK which can lead the opposition parties in the state against BJP in the coming Lok Sabha elections. Naidu went along with BJP and his party MPs were also in the NDA ministry until a few months back. Now due to his party’s ‘bad’ experience, he wants to punish BJP and therefore working with other regional parties.”

“In most of the states, political parties and people are taking BJP to task for its unfulfilled promises, which it made in the run up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. This is what Naidu wants to use for bringing all parties under one umbrella,” he added.