YSR Congress Party president Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on Wednesday said that his party would offer support to any candidate that the BJP fields for the coming presidential election. He told this to Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a meeting with him which lasted for over half an hour at the latter's official residence here.
"We will support any candidate the BJP fields as we have very less difference in opinion. Except for differences on the land acquisition bill and special status for Andhra Pradesh, we share similar opinions on various issues which we think are pro-people," Jagan said. "Also, the BJP has enough support for its candidate to win. Opposing their candidate and fielding another will not make sense," he said. Interestingly, Jagan is the leader of THE opposition in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly where the ruling TDP is a partner of the BJP-led NDA alliance, which is in power at the Centre. The presidential election is scheduled in July and opposition unity for contesting it may well be a precursor to an anti-NDA front ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha election.
CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury recently met Congress president Sonia Gandhi to explore the possibility of fielding a joint candidate for the presidential poll, even as RJD boss Lalu Prasad talked about cobbling together a Bihar-style 'mahagathbandhan' (grand alliance).
Jagan raised several issues with the PM and demanded disqualification of four MLAs from his party who switched over to the TDP.