New Delhi, November 1: Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu met Congress President Rahul Gandhi at his residence in New Delhi to discuss poll strategy for the upcoming Assembly polls in Telangana this year and for the Lok Sabha elections which are scheduled in 2019. TDP members of parliament Jayadev Galla and CM Ramesh were also present during the meeting.

While addressing the media after the meeting, Naidu said, "We had a very good meeting, the gist was that we have to defend democracy and future of the country. So we are coming together to work, all opposition forces must unite." He further added that due to "democratic compulsion" both the parties are coming together. As per reports, senior Congress leader Veerappa Moily also invited TDP chief to join United Progressive Alliance (UPA).

Earlier in the day, Naidu met Nationalist Congress Party supremo Sharad Pawar and National Conference president Farooq Abdullah. Naidu also met Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad at the Indira Gandhi International Airport. Both the leaders discussed the need to bring all non-BJP political parties together. Today’s visit was the second within a week to the national capital to garner support against the ruling BJP government.

Naidu had met Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Sharad Yadav in Delhi a few days before and slammed the BJP led Centre, blaming Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the crisis in the CBI. Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Akhilesh Yadav on October 30, urged TDP president and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu to form a united front along with the Congress. The TDP quit the national Democratic Alliance (NDA) government in March over the failure of the central government to give ‘special category status’ to Andhra Pradesh.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 01, 2018 04:47 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).