Naidu differs with Stalin over Rahul's name as PM candidate before polls

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday differed with DMK leader M.K. Stalin's stand on projecting Congress President Rahul Gandhi as the prime ministerial candidate of opposition for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, saying that candidate should be decided after the polls.

"My stand is...post-election we'll decide. I made it very clear, we should not announce a candidate today," Naidu said at the "India Today Conclave South 2018" here.

Stalin had last week proposed Gandhi as the opposition's prime ministerial candidate at a rally in Chennai.

The rally was attended by Naidu apart from several other opposition leaders.

Naidu has made efforts to bring opposition parties together against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

His Telugu Desam Party (TDP) had left the NDA earlier this year. The TDP had allied with the Congress and two other parties in the recent state election in Telangana but the alliance was defeated.