New Delhi: The leaders of six opposition parties met on Wednesday, debating the possibility of a national pre-poll alliance with a common minimum programme.
At a dinner hosted by NCP chief Sharad Pawar, Congress president Rahul Gandhi, chief ministers Arvind Kejriwal (Delhi), Mamata Banerjee (West Bengal), N. Chandrababu Naidu (Andhra Pradesh) and National Conference supremo Farooq Abdullah moved forward on a united anti-BJP front for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
This was the first time that Rahul Gandhi and Kejriwal met to discuss a possible alliance. The leaders said the “democratic compulsions to save India” brought them together.
After the meeting, which took place hours after opposition leaders shared a dias at an AAP protest on the day of the last sitting of the present Lok Sabha, Gandhi told reporters that opposition leaders agreed to have a common minimum programme.
“We will work together to defeat the BJP,” he said.
Kejriwal termed the talks constructive and said the opposition will work together.
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The meeting indicates that the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party, who have been bitter rivals since the regional party came to power in Delhi in 2015, may forge a tie-up.
Trinamool Congress president Banerjee called the meeting “fruitful” and asserted that “we will do pre-poll alliance if needed”. She said with the slogan ‘Sabko ek rakho, desh ko bachao’, the alliance would “save India from disaster, from the hands of BJP, Modi and Amit Shah”. “We will go in for a pre-poll alliance so that it doesn’t become a post-poll irritant… We are in agreement on the idea of a common minimum agenda/programme. Rahul will share a draft with us,” Banerjee was quoted as saying by the Indian Express.
Opposition leaders will keep meeting in the coming days for better coordination, she said.
Earlier in the day, she had said, “Any fight with the Congress will remain in the state. At the national level, we will fight together, this I am saying from the heart… For the greater interest of the country, I am ready to sacrifice my life, my party. I am ready to sacrifice everything.”
Telugu Desam Party head Naidu said there was a democratic compulsion to save India while Farooq Abdullah of the National Conferences termed the meeting “good”.
According to reports, though Pawar hosted the meeting, the idea was initiated by TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu. The Andhra Pradesh chief minister has been actively trying to forge an anti-BJP alliance.
Though a host of opposition leaders attended the rally in Delhi hosted by AAP, not everyone attended the dinner hosted by Pawar. The most significant absentee was a representative from the Samajwadi Party, which has tied up with the Bahujan Samaj Party in UP, leaving out the Congress.
(With PTI inputs)