Anti-BJP parties likely to meet in Delhi on Nov 22

All the non-BJP parties are likely to meet on November 22 to decide on future course of action under a slogan of save democracy and save the nation.

As part of the anti-BJP campaign, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday met Congress party national general secretary and former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot at his residence and discussed the future course of action.

Naidu said that efforts are on to bring together all non-BJP parties and that he had met Congress president Rahul Gandhi to discuss measures on protecting democracy.

Taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Naidu said that the former is responsible for the present state of affairs in Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

"The country's economy is in doldrums with the interfering of the central government on regulating authorities like CBI and RBI. RBI is a regulating authority and independently regulate the economy," he said while adding that the BJP government has been resorting to IT raids on opposition leaders for political gains.

Referring to Demonetisation, Naidu said that even after two years there is no result. The BJP government claimed that demonetisation would help to bring the black money back but it turned as a futile exercise, he added.

"Country's economy is in the doldrums. There was a fall in rupee value, increase in prices of essential commodities, unemployment increased, intolerance among SC, STs and minorities, secular fabric damaged and unrest prevailed in the country. The central government is resorting to conduct raids on those questioning including media, politicians to frighten them," the Chief Minister said.

Speaking on the occasion, Ashok Gehlot said that Naidu met Rahul Gandhi and discussed how to save democracy. He underlined that no one is happy with Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government including farmers, youth, women, poor and petty traders.

Gehlot said that the BJP government claimed to utilise demonetisation to end terrorism but failed.

The Centre has been destroying Judiciary, CBI, Election Commission, IT for the first time after independence. The present situation is an undeclared emergency in the country, Gehlot added.

It is a time for an important role to play. We will gather all together on November 22 to finalise the future course of action. We will move forward with Rahul Gandhi's agenda, he added.

To establish Anti-BJP platform, Naidu till date has met Congress party president Rahul Gandhi, National Congress (NC) chief Farooq Abdullah, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, veteran leader Sharad Yadav, former BJP leader Yashwant Sinha, Samjadwati party leaders Mulayam Singh and Akhilesh Yadav.

The Chief Minister said that it is time to take a decision on the country's future.

"I have no personal interest. We have to protect the country, democracy', constitutional rights should be protected. We are strong in technology, Youths are more. Narendra Modi's negative attitude and unilateral decisions along with Amit Shah leading to problems in the country. The Modi-Shah duo is destroying the systems in the country and giving priority to their own man," he said.

The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister has been extremely vocal and straight-forward about his critical opinions against the Centre. He had earlier said that the country needs a national-level alliance to counter Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the upcoming 2019 Lok Sabha elections.