Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal today stressed the need for an alliance of "all good people" to fight the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after a meeting here with his Kerala counterpart, Pinarayi Vijayan.
"There is an atmosphere of fear. The business community, industrialists, media people or commoners, everybody is afraid of the situation in this country, which is wrong," the Delhi CM said.
Kejriwal, who called on Pinarayi at Kerala House, told reporters they discussed "a range of issues" at their breakfast meeting.
"I feel that power is in the hands of wrong forces and they are getting an edge in the country...To fight this, all good people should come together," he said when asked if this was the beginning of a new alliance between his Aam Aadmi Party and other political forces.
"Those who raise the voice of dissent against the Centre are being muzzled," Kejriwal, with Pinarayi by his side, added.
His remarks came just days after Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said they were ready for a coalition of political forces to fight the BJP.
Pinarayi, who is currently in Delhi to attend a central committee meeting of the CPI(M), agreed with Kejriwal about a "situation of fear" in the country. But "there was no point" in relying on the Congress to fight the BJP, he added.
"We all saw yesterday how a prominent Congress leader of Delhi shifted his camp to BJP," he pointed out.
"We need to counter these threats without affecting the secular fabric of the country," Pinarayi added.
"The situation in our country is very serious. We have discussed the fear in the society created by the RSS," Pinarayi said.
The Kerala CM also backed Kejriwal's demand that full statehood status be granted to Delhi.
"The Centre must recognise full statehood to the Delhi government. These days, the Union government is trying to grab all the powers even from the states. Now they are trying to choke the Delhi government by taking away all its powers. This is not acceptable," Pinarayi added.
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