All oppn parties should come together to save country: Naidu
Bengaluru, Nov 8: Days after he met heads of opposition parties, including Rahul Gandhi, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu Thursday held talks with former prime minister H D Deve Gowda and Karnataka counterpart H D Kumaraswamy and said it was necessary for the opposition to unite against BJP to save the country and institutions from destruction.
Aiming to forge an anti-BJP front ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Naidu alleged that every institution, including CBI and RBI, had been destroyed by the BJP-led NDA government.
"It is our responsibility to join hands together to save and protect this great nation and also save democracy and the Constitution," he told reporters after meeting Deve Gowda and Kumaraswamy here.
Naidu hinted that the 1996 model of forming the government with Deve Gowda as prime minister with outside support of the Congress, could also be one of the experiments to form the government at the centre.
"PM candidate, we will decide. All of us will join together. First our aim is to protect democracy and save nation. What I am saying is, Congress is the main and major party. If you see only one experiment, that is under Deve Gowda's prime ministership.
At that time, the Third Front had come to power.
"Then we had take support from Congress from outside.
That is the only experiment... " he said.
Asked whether he was referring to 1996 model of forming government, he said, "I am interested in the nation and consensus. Everybody will join together. There is no organisation as of today.
I have taken some initiative and I am meeting everybody. After that, we will meet and decide how to go about."
Echoing similar views, Kumaraswamy said the prime ministerial candidate could be discussed later, "but at this point of time, the focus is to unite the opposition and save democracy."
He said a mega farmers rally would be held in December or January.
"I plan to hold the event by December-end of January (next year). All regional leaders, with the exception of BJP, will be invited," he said.
Flaying the BJP-led NDA government, Deve Gowda alleged the NDA has created problems by destroying various institutions of the country.
"It is the responsibility of all secular parties including the Congress to come together to oust the present government," he said.
The meeting came amid the ruling Congress-JDS coalition winning two out of the three Lok Sabha seats and two assembly segments that went to bypolls in Karnataka on November 3.
The BJP had managed to retain Shivamogga Lok Sabha seat, but lost Ballari, a bastion of the BJP and Reddy brothers.
Naidu, who had last week met heads of several opposition parties, including Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi, had termed his party's alliance with the Congress a "democratic compulsion" to protect the country.
Naidu Thursday said the prime ministerial candidate would be decided at later stage, but at this point of time, it was necessary for all opposition parties to unite together to not only save the country, "but also save institutions from destruction by central government."
"It is an initial exercise (of bringing opposition parties together). After that, we will work together," he said.
He said West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Kumaraswamy were holding rallies in January.
"These things are happening. How to work out the unification of the parties and how to go about thereafter, we will all see in course of time," he said.
Lambasting the Centre, Naidu alleged that it was using CBI and income tax departments to "control opposition," conducting raids "indiscriminately and harassing politicians, which people have been witnessing even in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu."
Such raids also have been conducted recently in Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar besides Gujarat, he alleged.
"Even as these raids are taking place, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is not making any statements," Naidu said.
"Besides, destroying the institutions, the Indian economy is in doldrums as demonetisation did not have good effect on it," he said.
Petrol prices have been increasing day by day and rupee is also depreciating, he added.
Launching a tirade against the BJP-led NDA government, Naidu alleged that the party had betrayed the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in Andhra Pradesh as it did not confer special status for AP.
The TDP broke away from the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance in March this year.
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NATO, others turn down US call for help in Hormuz: Trump
Washington (PTI): President Donald Trump on Tuesday said NATO and most of US' other allies have rejected his calls to help secure the Strait of Hormuz as the war with Iran entered the third week.
In a social media post, Trump asserted that Iran’s military has been “decimated” and he no longer felt the need for assistance from NATO countries or anyone else.
Last week, Trump had sought help from European nations and others who depend on oil supplies transiting from the Hormuz Strait to safeguard the critical waterway.
“The United States has been informed by most of our NATO “Allies” that they don’t want to get involved with our Military Operation against the Terrorist Regime of Iran, in the Middle East, this, despite the fact that almost every Country strongly agreed with what we are doing, and that Iran cannot, in any way, shape, or form, be allowed to have a Nuclear Weapon,” the US President said in a post on Truth Social.
Iran's attacks on Gulf nations and its grip on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil is transported, have sparked increasing concerns of a global energy crisis and are unnerving the world economy.
“I am not surprised by their action, however, because I always considered NATO, where we spend Hundreds of Billions of Dollars per year protecting these same Countries, to be a one-way street — We will protect them, but they will do nothing for us, in particular, in a time of need,” Trump said.
He said Australia, Japan and South Korea too have turned down his call for help.
“Fortunately, we have decimated Iran’s Military – Their Navy is gone, their Air Force is gone, their Anti-Aircraft and Radar is gone and perhaps, most importantly, their Leaders, at virtually every level, are gone, never to threaten us, our Middle Eastern Allies, or the World, again,” Trump said.
He said that given the scale of recent military successes, the US no longer "need" or desires assistance from NATO countries, adding that it never relied on such support in the first place.
Speaking as President of the United States, the "most powerful" country in the world, "we do not need" help from anyone, Trump said.
The West Asia conflict began on February 28 when the US-Israeli combine conducted airstrikes on Iran.
The Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that connects the Persian Gulf to the open ocean, has effectively been shut following the US and Israel attack on Iran and Tehran's sweeping retaliation.
However, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had said that from Tehran's "perspective", the strait is "open". "It is only closed to Iran's enemies, to those who carried out unjust aggression against our country and to their allies.”
Earlier in the day, a second Indian-flagged LPG tanker, Nanda Devi, reached the country after safely sailing from the war-hit Strait of Hormuz. On Monday, the first ship, Shivalik, reached Mundra port in Gujarat.
As of now, 22 Indian vessels remain on the west side and two on the east side of the strait.
Indian authorities are in constant touch with all the relevant stakeholders in the region to secure the safe passage of the remaining ships, officials said.
