Tue. Mar 19th, 2024

Hinting towards a ‘mahagathbandhan’, Congress sources have confirmed that Akhilesh Yadav‘s Samajwadi Party, Mayawati‘s Bahujan Samaj Party and Rahul Gandhi‘s Congress have come to a “strategic understanding” to contest in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

India.com reported, “A ‘strategic understanding’ had been reached between the Congress, the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party to fight the Lok Sabha elections together in Uttar Pradesh and talks were being held between them”, said sources.

The sources have claimed that Rahul Gandhi will contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from the Amethi seat for the fourth consecutive year. The party has yet to decide the candidate for the Rae Bareilly constituency as party veteran Sonia Gandhi might not stand from there.

The sources said that Congress, BSP and SP have reached an understanding that the “primary job” of all the opposition parties is to defeat BJP in the upcoming general elections and the prime ministerial face can be decided on the basis of the number of seats won by the parties.

The party also denied rumours of forming an alliance with displeased NDA ally Shiv Sena as they are not “ideologically aligned” with the Congress.

The Congress sources said that the aim is to bring the opposition parties together on  “one platform” without “any confusion and disruption”. A senior leader said, “What happens after that will depend on how different parties perform,” reported The Indian Express.

The party is also planning not to reveal chief ministerial faces for the upcoming state assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.

The party will be raising issues like  “corruption under the BJP government”, “agrarian distress”, “unemployment and the failure of the BJP government to create jobs” and “state of education and healthcare sectors” in the 2019 general elections, reported The Indian Express.

In Delhi and Telangana, Congress will most likely fight alone. The Delhi Congress unit is against any form of alliance with the Aam Aadmi Party in the city. In Maharastra, Congress will fight together with their old ally NCP.

Sources said, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi will need at least 230 seats to be able to continue on the post after 2019 polls and if a proper alliance was stitched between opposition parties in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Maharashtra, he would surely be defeated,” reported India.com.

The sources claimed that if the alliance between Congress, BSP and SP worked out “without any hitch”, the BJP will not be able to win more than five seats in the two states.

By isha

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