With just over a day to go for counting of votes in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu met JD(S) patriarch HD Deve Gowda.
The late night meeting took place at the former Prime MInister’s residence in Bengaluru’s Padmanabha Nagar.
The meeting which lasted for about an hour centred around post-poll scenarios if the NDA finds itself short of the 272 mark, informed sources said.
"Naidu met Gowda and Kumaraswamy at the latter's residence in the city's southern suburb and sought their party's support for forming a non-BJP alliance and staking claim to power in the event of a fractured verdict and a hung Parliament," JD(S) official Ramesh Babu said.
"Naidu also apprised Gowda and Kumaraswamy of his discussions with Rahul Gandhi, TMC President Mamata Banerjee, BSP President Mayawati, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and other allies for a post-poll alliance to prevent the BJP from returning to power in a hung Parliament," added Babu.
Speculation is rife that Naidu has also proposed that all non-BJP aligned parties submit a memorandum to the President even before the results are officially declared to stake claim to the government if such a situation arises.
Naidu, who was earlier aligned with the BJP-led NDA, had vowed to dethrone Narendra Modi from the PM’s post over the denial of special status to Andhra Pradesh.
Since the day of polling, he has had a series of meetings with leaders opposed to the BJP and its allies. Naidu’s meeting with the Karnataka CM and the former PM was preceded by his meeting with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who is also one of the key faces of the anti-BJP coalition.
On Sunday, he met the top brass of the Congress party including the Chairperson of the UPA Sonia Gandhi, the Congress president Rahul Gandhi, NCP Chief Sharad Pawar, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and CPI(M) chief Sitaram Yechury.
The day before, he had similar talks with former UP Chief Ministers Akhilesh Yadav, Mayawati and also Sharad Yadav, the chief of Loktantrik Janata Dal.
With inputs from IANS