Andhra CM Meets Stalin to Form Opposition Alliance for 2019 Polls

Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], Nov 9 (ANI): Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Friday met Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) chief MK Stalin here to hold discussions about forming an opposition alliance in order to dethrone the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in next year's Lok Sabha elections.

Addressing the media, Naidu said, "I came here to request Stalin Ji to join us to save this nation. Democracy is in danger, the nation is in danger, and all of us have to work together against the BJP."

The chief minister further accused the BJP government of using probe agencies to "malign" and "harass" opposition leaders.

"If you see today, the CBI is totally defamed. Even the RBI is prepared to quit. It (RBI) is a regulatory, autonomous body, the interference by the government has never happened in the past. Also, Enforcement Directorate, Income Tax, they are using only to malign and harass all opposition leaders," Naidu said.

Naidu further blamed the Modi government for stagnating the economy and said, "The economy is in the doldrums. Rupee devaluation is the lowest in decades, and demonetisation, which yesterday completed two years, what is the result? Now honourable finance minister is saying it was not done to curb black money, only to collect taxes. What a beautiful statement he has given."

He said that all black money has been legitimised because of the demonetisation, adding that people have lost confidence in the banks.

"Nirav Modi, Vijay Mallya, everyone escaped the country. Non Performing Assets are increasing day-by-day. Unrest in the country, intolerance towards other communities, farmers are in distress, there is unemployment, everything is going from bad to worse," Naidu said.

He asserted on the need for all opposition parties to rally together to create an "anti-BJP platform", adding that he will soon be meeting West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in order to convince her to join the cause.

Naidu has already met with Karnataka Chief Minister H. D. Kumaraswamy, former Prime Minister and Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) chief H. D. Deve Gowda in Bengaluru yesterday, and Congress president Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi earlier this month.

He further stated that there will not be a problem of leading the opposition alliance as there are many great leaders among them. "Even Stalin Ji is better than our Narendra Modi Ji," he added.

When questioned on how the different parties will resolve their differences, Naidu said, "We have had differences with the Congress for the last 40 years, (still) we joined together. We have to bring everybody together and ignore our differences. The nation is important, democracy is important."

He further dismissed the possibilities of him being the face of the alliance. "I am not the face of this alliance. I am very clear, I am not an aspirant. I am only a facilitator, I will bring everybody, we will decide, we will take (the matter) forward," Naidu said. (ANI)

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