Vijayawada: Anti-BJP parties would meet in New Delhi on November 22 to create a common platform and chalk out their future course of action, TD president and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu said Saturday.
Speaking to mediapersons after meeting Congress leader Ashok Gehlot, who came to the city as an emissary of Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Mr Naidu said the endeavour was to bring everybody on board to on the slogan of ‘Save democracy and save the nation’.
Replying to questions, Mr Naidu said there were only “two platforms” — BJP and anti-BJP. “Political parties should decide which side they are on. If they don’t join us, it means they are with the BJP,” he said.
Mr Naidu said he had met Mr Rahul Gandhi as part of the effort to protect democracy and would meet Trinamul president and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on November 19 or 20. He said he had met several leaders including Mr Farooq Abdullah, Mr
“I am not expecting anything from this, and it is in the interest of the nation. Save democracy and save the nation is the agenda for us,” Mr Naidu said. Defending joining hands with the Congress, he said, “I am appealing to all parties to forget our issues and to join together for a broader cause.”
He said the Delhi meeting would discuss all issues and chalk out programmes on how to take the movement forward and build an anti-BJP infrastructure.
“Now I have convinced everybody. Everybody is willing to cooperate with us. In this experiment, Congress is the main opposition party. They have more responsibility. We have to acknowledge that,” Mr Naidu said.
Some parties might join them after the Assembly elections in five states and “one or two” might come after the Lok Sabha elections. “Our effort is to bring everybody on board to fight the BJP,” Mr Naidu said.
He held Prime Minister Narendra Modi responsible for present state of affairs in the CBI and the RBI. “The economy is in the doldrums because of the interference of the Centre”. Mr Naidu said the BJP government at the Centre had been resorting to I-T raids on Opposition leaders for political gain.
He said it was clear after two years that demonetisation was a failure. He said the BJP government had claimed that demonetisation would help tap resources and it had failed.
“The common man was inconvenienced by the hasty decision of the BJP government,” he said.
