Opposition waits for results before talking tie-ups

KOLKATA: The Opposition parties’ meeting to firm up plans on how to take on BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections will now happen only after the results of the five assembly polls are out.
Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee met her Andhra Pradesh counterpart, N Chandrababu Naidu, at the state secretariat on Monday evening, following which the latter briefed the media about the decision to defer the mahagatbandhan meeting from November 22 to any day before the start of Parliament’s winter session on December 15.The meeting lasted for about an hour.
“I came here to meet Mamata ji and we had a fruitful discussion. We have cancelled the November 22 meeting because we are in the midst of assembly polls,” Naidu said. “But we want to meet before Parliament’s winter session and will announce the exact date later,” Naidu added. State secretariat officials hinted that the meeting might be held on December 14, a day before the Parliament session begins.
The results of the Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Mizoram and Telengana state polls will be declared on December 11.
The November 22 schedule was not conducive for the anti-BJP unity show as both Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati and Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav had been criticising the Congress in their assembly poll campaigns, the Bengal CM felt. She then urged Naidu to try and have all opposition leaders, including Mayawati and Yadav, on board to put up a united face against BJP.
Banerjee, her party colleagues said, was looking at the planned Brigade Parade Ground rally in Kolkata on January 19 as the pace-setter for opposition unity as most anti-BJP leaders had confirmed their presence.
The Bengal CM, however, did not go into what transpired at her Monday meeting with Naidu. “All opposition leaders except one or two have promised to come to the Kolkata rally on January 19.