Chandrababu Naidu in Lucknow to hold talks with Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav

LUCKNOW: Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu, who is pushing for an Opposition meet in Delhi to cobble together a non-BJP front, will airdash to Lucknow on Saturday to convince key Uttar Pradesh satraps Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati to join the proposed brain-storming session.
While UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi reached out to non-NDA leaders for a discussion ahead of May 23 results, both gathbandhan leaders in UP have till now maintained they would prefer to stay away from such confabulations before D-Day.A day ahead of the last polling for 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Naidu is scheduled to meet BSP supremo Mayawati at 5pm and then call on Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav to discuss a strategy to forge a platform of anti-BJP parties.
Congress hints at Karnataka model as Mayawati and Naidu aspire for PM chair
Top sources in Samajwadi Party revealed to TOI that Naidu, who is spearheading parleys with Congress and other anti-BJP regional parties, might convince the twin gathbandhan leaders to attend a meeting called by Sonia Gandhi at her residence in Delhi on the day of result.
Naidu’s Track-2 negotiations assume significance even as his Telugu counterpart and Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao is pushing for a federal front by initiating talks will southern satraps and other non-NDA leaders. Naidu, however, said, “We welcome TRS and any party which is against BJP. I am meeting everybody.” On Friday, he held talks with CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal and is likely to meet Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday.
The crucial Lucknow meet of the trio, a day before voting for last phase of 59 seats, of which 13 are in Uttar Pradesh, points towards a build-up in Opposition ranks before the results are declared.
Even if the two UP satraps keep up the mystery on attending the Congress-led show in Delhi as they have been maintaining equidistance from BJP and Congress, Naidu would explore their mind in forging an anti-BJP government at Centre, in case NDA falls short of the majority mark. Naidu and Akhilesh Yadav have had cordial relations and were in touch during the elections as well.
Congress’ willingness to stay away from prime minister’s post for the bigger objective of keeping the BJP away from power, has hinted at the Karnataka model to form the government at the Centre. The national general secretary of Congress Ghulam Nabi Azad had dropped enough hints that the PM’s post would not be hindrance to hammer out a coalition. Both Naidu and Mayawati are hopefuls for the post of prime minister from Opposition ranks. In case the BJP-led NDA fails to touch the 272 mark, the Lucknow meet is being considered a precursor to the big picture.
Top sources told TOI, the Naidu-Mayawati-Akhilesh troika could hold a joint press conference after the meeting in Lucknow to send across the message of expanding unity in the Opposition camp.