Andhra CM Chandrababu Naidu meets Mamata Banerjee

Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu met his West Bengal counterpart Mamata Banerjee on Monday to invite her to attend a meeting of opposition leaders in Delhi for talks on the proposed joint front against the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance for the Lok Sabha elections next year.

The meeting between Naidu and Banerjee took place at the state secretariat in Howrah. 

After the meeting with Mamata, Naidu said the Opposition conclave on November 22 had been postponed and a fresh date would be announced soon.

“Institutions like CBI, ED, Income Tax department, RBI and CAG are under severe pressure,” Naidu told reporters outside the secretariat.

The November 22 meeting was to focus on the form and structure of the proposed anti-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) forum and a course of action to take forward the initiative further. Besides, a plan of action was to be drafted to fight the Narendra Modi government over its alleged anti-people policies such as the use of official agencies like the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and income tax department to settle scores with political rivals, dismantling of institutions and the “ill-effects” of the note ban.

Naidu has met leaders from a wide spectrum of opposition parties including Rahul Gandhi, Bahujan Samaj Party president Mayawati, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and his father and party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal, Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar, National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah, Dravida Munnetra Kazhgam (DMK) leader MK Stalin and leaders of the Communist Party of India and Communist Party of India (Marxist). 

He also visited Bengaluru to meet Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy of the Janata Dal (Secular) and his father and former prime minister HD Devegowda.

The meeting between Naidu and Banerjee comes three days after Banerjee publicly endorsed Naidu’s stand to stop the CBI from investigating cases in state and decided to do the same in Bengal. The move was seen to be triggered by perceptions in the two states ruled by opposition parties who have frequently accused the central agency of acting at the behest of the BJP-led national coalition at the centre.

Naidu’s Telugu Desam Party was a part of the national coalition till March this year but the two parties had a bitter falling out over special category status for Andhra Pradesh.

Banerjee has also convened a meeting of the opposition leaders in Kolkata on January 19, in what is billed as her show of strength to unite the opposition against the BJP ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. She has claimed that except one or two parties all opposition outfits have confirmed participation in the rally at Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata.