NEW DELHI: The Congress on Sunday reiterated its plans of forming a ‘mahagathbandhan’ of Opposition parties against the BJP for the Lok Sabha elections, saying the collapse of its seat-sharing talks with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) for the upcoming state polls will not affect attempts to forge a grand alliance. Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera, however, said the party’s national leadership had gone with its state units’ assessment of the prevailing ground situation, and how many seats it could part with for likely allies.
“State units are better aware of the ground situation than the central leadership. They took a decision and the central leadership accepted it,” Khera said, adding that this fallout should not be linked to talks for forging a grand alliance for the Lok Sabha polls. “It should not be confused with attempts to forge a mahagathbandhan that is meant for the Lok Sabha polls.”
Sources say the Congress-BSP alliance talks fell through as the grand old party was unwilling to cede as many seats in states like Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan as sought by Mayawati’s party.
Five states — Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Rajasthan and Telangana — are headed for Assembly polls between November 12 and December 7. The Assembly polls are being seen as the semifinal to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Khera also criticised Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik for his reported remarks blaming parties other than the BJP and the PDP for the situation in the Valley. Criticising the reduction in petrol and diesel prices by Rs 2.5 per litre as an “electoral lollipop” aimed at the five poll-bound states, Khera asked the Narendra Modi government to bring petroleum products under the GST regime. He said that oil prices had begun rising again since the cut was effected on Thursday, adding that it showed the Central government’s duplicity and hypocrisy.