Opposition Leaders Step Up Talks To Form Coalition, TDP Chief Naidu Meets Rahul, Pawar
Leaders of opposition parties are stepping up efforts to cobble together a coalition.
A day before the last phase of polling, leaders of opposition parties have stepped up efforts to cobble together a coalition, with Telugu Desam Party chief Chandrababu Naidu meeting Congress and Communist Party of India leaders.
Naidu met Congress President Rahul Gandhi and discussed with him the possibility of all opposition parties uniting and forging a joint opposition alliance.
The Andhra Pradesh chief minister also met CPI leader G Sudhakar Reddy and D Raja over breakfast, asking them to "come together".
Naidu also met Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar and Loktantrik Janata Dal leader Sharad Yadav.
The TDP chief has already held several rounds of discussions with various opposition leaders, including Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee, Aam Aadmi Party National Convener Arvind Kejriwal and Communist Party of India (Marxist) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury.
Sources said he is also likely to meet Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati and Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav in Lucknow in the evening.
Naidu told the leaders that they should come together to keep the Bharatiya Janata Party out, a source said.
Naidu also told Rahul Gandhi to have a strategy ready in case the National Democratic Alliance falls short of the majority mark and still stakes claim to form the government, according to a source.
Naidu's TDP had been a part of the NDA and had quit the alliance a few months ago.
On Friday, Naidu had said that not only the Telangana Rashtra Samithi but any outfit which is against the saffron party are welcome to join a grand alliance after the election results are declared.
Opposition parties are pitching for a joint anti-BJP front to steer the next government.
Hectic deliberations between various opposition leaders are likely to stepped up before the Lok Sabha results are announced on May 23.