Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N Chandrababu Naidu met West Bengal CM and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata on Monday. Addressing mediapersons after the meeting, the two leaders said that they “discussed the future plan” to collectively take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA government at the Centre.
Talking to mediapersons, Naidu accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led central government of putting pressure on institutions like the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
“As senior leaders, Mamata Ji and I have some responsibilities. We have to save the nation and democracy, we have to protect institutions. You are watching from last many days, democracy is in danger. Institutions like CBI, ED, RBI and others are under pressure” said the TDP chief.
Mamata said that she discussed the “future plan” with Naidu, asserting that they would fight “together against the BJP government to save the nation”. “Today we have discussed the future plan. We can tell you one thing, we are all together to fight against the BJP government to save the nation,” said the TMC chief.
When asked as to who the face (prime ministerial candidate) would of the Mahagathbandhan be, the West Bengal Chief Minister said, “Everybody will be the face of Mahagathbandhan.”
Notably, Naidu has earlier met leaders of other opposition parties in different states, including HD Kumaraswamy and HD Deve Gowda of the Janata Dal Secular in Karnataka and MK Stalin of the DMK in Tamil Nadu.
The TDP chief also had a meeting with Congress president Rahul Gandhi in the national capital. Reports had said that the strategy of forming a united opposition was discussed between the two leaders during the key meeting.
Naidu, who was earlier a constituent of the NDA, had decided to walk out of the BJP-led government earlier this year over the issue of special state category for Andhra Pradesh.
