Naidu meets Pawar, Farooq Abdullah; grand alliance on his mind

Stepping up his efforts to build a pan-India alliance to take on the BJP in 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Andhra Pradesh chief minister and TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu met NCP chief Sharad Pawar and National Conference president Farooq Abdullah in New Delhi on Thursday, November 1.

The TDP chief is likely to call on Congress president Rahul Gandhi later in the day, to discuss the matter.

This is his second visit to New Delhi in less than a week.

Last week, Naidu had said that "political compulsions" will force non-BJP parties to come together to form a third front against the BJP.

Naidu, a former BJP ally who quit the NDA early this year over the Centre's refusal to grant special status to Andhra Pradesh, met BSP chief Mayawati, Jammu and Kashmir National Conference president Farooq Abdullah and former BJP leader Yashwant Sinha here in the national capital on October 27.

Naidu “coincidentally” also met senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here and briefly discussed about the need to bring all non-BJP political parties together, TDP sources said.

The Andhra Pradesh government has also accused the Centre of not supporting it in the construction of the Polavaram irrigation project, Kadapa steel plant, building a new capital city, and doing a flip flop on special package for the state on the lines of Bundelkhand region.