The proposal put forth by Telugu Desam Party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu for a meeting of all anti-Bharatiya Janata Party forces on May 21, two days before the announcement of election results had no takers.
Trinamul Congress party president and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee with whom Naidu had held a closed-door discussion at Kharagpur on Thursday evening on deciding the prime ministerial candidate of the Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) categorically told him that the meeting on May 21 was not possible.
She reportedly felt that it was the time when all the parties should keep an eye on strong rooms where EVMs would be kept and any diversion from the issue would help the BJP manipulate the polls.
In the meeting which lasted over 15 minutes, Banerjee and Naidu discussed about the future plans of the Mahagatbandhan.
Naidu also briefed Mamata about his conversation with Congress president Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi on Wednesday.
Apparently, Naidu told Mamata that she could be projected as the PM candidate, if all the regional parties come to a consensus.
The meeting on grand alliance’s PM candidate will now be held only after May 23.
Naidu and Banerjee are believed to have also talked about the voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) issue and the probable voting percentage in the so far held five phases of polling in the ongoing Lok Sabha Elections.
Earlier, Naidu joined Banerjee at a campaign meeting of TMC at Kharagpur on Thursday where he spoke high about her and urged people to vote for Trinamool to oust the BJP from the power.
Later, Naidu participated and delivered a speech for TMC North Kolkata Lok Sabha constituency candidate Sudip Bandyopadhyay at Sithi in the city.
