Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday called on his Andhra Pradesh counterpart N. Chandrababu Naidu in Amaravati. Kejriwal, who was accompanied by his deputy Manish Sisodia, met Naidu at his official residence.
The Aam Admi Party (AAP) leaders understood to have discussed with Naidu, the Telugu Desam Party chief, a wide range of issues related to national politics, especially the proposal for a national alliance against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of Lok Sabha elections.
Naidu also told Kejriwal and Sisodia about the ‘raw treatment’ being meted out to Andhra Pradesh by the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government.
Kejriwal had met Naidu and expressed solidarity with him when the latter undertook a day-long fast in New Delhi on February 11 to protest against the Centre's failure to fulfill the commitments made in Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act 2014.
Naidu had also addressed an opposition rally organized by AAP in the national capital on February 13 against Modi government with the slogan 'Remove dictatorship, Save democracy'.
Earlier this month, in a significant development, major national parties decided to have a pre-poll pact and a common minimum programme (CMP) to defeat the BJP in the coming Lok Sabha polls even as Congress appeared to keep its options open about tying up with Trinamool Congress in West Bengal and the AAP in Delhi.
Congress President Rahul Gandhi has been entrusted the task of preparing the CMP.
The decisions were announced after a meeting of the opposition parties at the residence of Nationalist Congress Party leader Sharad Pawar following their ‘remove dictatorship, save democracy’ joint protest in the national capital.
Apart from Gandhi, the meeting was attended by Trinamool Congress leader and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Telugu Desam Party leader and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, Aam Aadmi Party leader and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah.
At the time, Naidu said "we like-minded political parties" will work together. "What the leaders have said today, there is a democratic compulsion," he added.
IANS inputs