Fri. Mar 29th, 2024

In the wake of recent events, the Congress party has taken a u-turn and it is likely to make an alliance with other parties who are opposing the BJP in Rajasthan. Most likely among them will be Mayawati’s BSP and Sharad Yadav’s Loktantrik Janta Dal. The decision has been taken in a meeting by party high command in New Delhi on Tuesday where the leaders from other states were also present to discuss strategies for upcoming Rajasthan Assembly Elections.

HT quoted a Congress leader as saying, “The meeting, attended by senior leaders such as Ashok Gehlot, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Avinash Pande, Ahmed Patel, AK Antony, Jairam Ramesh, Sachin Pilot and leader of opposition in Rajasthan assembly, Rameshwar Dudi, discussed the practicality, possibility, and feasibility of alliance with other parties”.

Rajasthan state chief, Sachin Pilot who had earlier denied of any alliance in Rajasthan said, “Congress is open to alliances with like-minded parties at the state and national level but it should be practical and respectable. The decision will be taken by the party president”.

The Rajasthan Congress had agreed to the alliance after Congress president Rahul Gandhi intervened as he thinks that alliance for assembly polls in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh could help in forming a bigger alliance against the BJP for 2019 general poll.

Earlier, the Congress had decided not to ally with any party because of an adverse impact as the people mostly choose between BJP and Congress with miniscule votes to smaller parties. BSP had won two seats out of contested 195 seats in the 2013 polls with a vote share of 3.5%. Although BSP state leader Sitaram Maghwal has claimed that the party will contest on all 200 seats, a Congress leader said that it was asking for 8-10 seats. However, Maghwal said any decision on alliance will be taken by Mayawati.

While the opposition parties are determined to oust BJP at any cost, the ruling party doesn’t seem to be bothered. A BJP spokesperson said People want PM Narendra Modi’s leadership at the Centre and chief minister Vasundhara Raje in Rajasthan.” He also said that those parties who are trying hard to fight with BJP will not be able to make any difference in the upcoming polls.

Earlier this month, former prime minister H D Deve Gowda announced in Jaipur that they are forming an alliance of seven parties that include CPI, CPI(M), CPI(ML), Samajwadi party, Rashtriya Lok Dal, Janta Dal( Secular) and MCPI (United) which will be called ‘Loktantrik Morcha’. He had said the decision to form a different alliance was taken because Congress was unwilling to share seats.

with inputs from HT and TOI

By fatima

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *