New Delhi, March 5 (IANS) The most important priority for the Congress is an alliance. In the recently concluded elections there were two types of outcomes — one in the assembly bypolls and the other in the state polls where the party fared poorly because of not aligning well.
In the bypolls the Congress with its alliance performed well but lost in Nagaland, Meghalaya and Tripura where the BJP has outperformed it.
However, regarding an alliance the Congress has a tough job to tackle Mamata Banerjee, K Chandrashekhar Rao and Nitish Kumar who have Prime Ministerial ambitions. If the Congress becomes complacent then it might lose ground.
The Congress in it’s 85th plenary session ended with the ‘Raipur Declaration’, asserting never to compromise with the politics of the BJP-RSS, and mentioning its openness for alliances and caste census in the country. It also called upon the party workers to ensure victory in the polls.
The declaration said, “The Congress party is the only party that has never compromised with the BJP/RSS and its despicable politics. We will always fight to protect our political values against the BJP’s authoritarian, communal and crony capitalist onslaught.”
Sending a big message on alliances, the declaration said, “We are prepared to work with like-minded political parties on the basis of a common, constructive programme to preserve and protect the Constitution in letter and spirit and to address the three main challenges facing the country: growing economic inequality, intensifying social polarisation and deepening political dictatorship.”
The Congress is in an alliance in Bihar and is supporting the Nitish Kumar government but has problems in West Bengal and Telangana where the ruling parties are averse to joining hands with the Congress.
Rajani Patil, Congress in-charge in Jammu and Kashmir said, “The like-minded people in J&K such as Farooq Abdullah and Omar Abdullah from the National Conference and Mehbooba Mufti from the PDP participated in the Bharat Jodo Yatra in the Union Territory, which clearly reflects that they are also willing to go with the like-minded parties. Our only target is to defeat the BJP.”
The other key state is Uttar Pradesh which sends 80 MPs to Parliament and the BJP has started preparations on the 13 seats where the party lost the last time by roping in Sunil Bansal. However Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit says, “In UP the big parties like the SP have to decide as we are not in a position to dictate terms, but where we are strong we are in alliance, like in Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Bihar and other states.”
In the recent Assembly elections it fought in alliance with the Left in Tripura where the alliance was second to the BJP. Here the opposition votes were divided with the Tripura Motha party bagging 13 seats.
In Nagaland the NDPP and the BJP have gained a clear majority and the Congress which fought the BJP alliance has been decimated. In Meghalaya too, the TMC and the Congress cut each other’s votes and after the NPP the BJP is the second largest party.
The Congress has apparently understood the importance of alliances so in its Raipur Declaration it has mentioned calling like minded parties to tie up with it.
–IANS
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