After his meet with Rahul Gandhi, Chandrababu Naidu is all set to meet Uttar Pradesh's former chief ministers Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav in Lucknow on Saturday evening to discuss the alliance in the post-election scenario
New Delhi: The campaigning for the last phase of Lok Sabha election 2019 is over, and voting will be on May 19. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah have faith in winning with an absolute majority, and they made that clear in the press conference that was held on May 17. Now, the opposition is making a last-ditch effort ahead of the results by strengthening its coalition exercise.
On May 18, TDP leader Chandrababu Naidu met Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar. He will be heading to Lucknow next around 3 pm, and is expected to meet Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati and Samajwadi party's chief Akhilesh Yadav after attending a programme in Lucknow.
The opposition has agreed that no party will get a full majority this Lok Sabha election. TDP chief and Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu is busy with his final attempt in gathering all opposition leaders.
Earlier, Naidu met Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal late on Friday evening. Reports suggest that Naidu met Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi and CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury on Friday.
Rahul Gandhi on Friday expressed his hope that secular parties would get the most number of seats in the election and that the BSP, the Samajwadi Party, TMC and TDP would join hands with the Congress after the elections.
SP, BSP, Trinamool Congress and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) are not in alliance with the Congress this election season. Rahul Gandhi has also said that in the efforts to form the government after elections, other parties would take advantage of UPA chief Sonia Gandhi.
Congress has further said that it is committed to the formation of a progressive and secular government and is ready to lead the coalition. To bring together opposition parties, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi has asked her confidant leaders for a meeting after the election results that are scheduled for May 23.
Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said, "It is not true that Congress will not claim for the post of the Prime Minister. Congress is the largest and oldest party; if the government has to run for five years, then it should get an opportunity."
Echoing the same sentiment, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said, "Congress believes in Gandhi's ideology, with the primary objective of taking people with different opinions and people from political parties together. If needed, we will try our best to carry them together, and I think what Ghulam Nabi Ji is saying is not different from that."
Surjewala also said that it is Congress's belief that they will emerge as the largest party in the Lok Sabha elections. He even assured that the Indian National Congress is committed to forming a progressive, moderate, democratic and secular government in the country.
Chandrababu Naidu will return to Andhra Pradesh through a special aircraft around 7 pm on Saturday.
Earlier, the TDP chief met the Election Commission (EC) and accused it of being pro-government and also demanded them to take action against Bhopal's BJP candidate Pragya Thakur for "insulting" Mahatma Gandhi.
Naidu also welcomed the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), which is in power in neighbouring Telangana, to be part of their alliance against the BJP after the election results are declared.
While Naidu is trying his bit to take on BJP, his party is already facing a struggle from the YSR Congress's Jaganmohan Reddy, who is convinced that his party will form the government in Andhra Pradesh.
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