Cong must play ‘supporting role’ to regional players: RLD

Lucknow: RLD leader Jayant Chaudhary on Sunday said the Congress should play a “supporting role” in states dominated by regional parties in seat-sharing agreements ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

Backed by the Congress, SP and Bhaujan Samaj Party, Mr Chaudhary’s Rashtriya Lok Dal recently won the Kairana parliamentary byelection, boosting expectations of Opposition unity.

Admitting that seat-sharing was a difficult task, particularly in UP where there are as many as four major parties, the RLD vice-president said all partners will have to show magnanimity to halt the BJP in its tracks. In states where the Congress is the main party, he suggested that the regional parties should support it.

“While in the others, where the regional parties are in the vanguard, the Congress will have to play the supporting role,” he told PTI, suggesting a formula to keep the fledgling flock together.

“It is, however, for the Congress to take a call on this, but all the constituents have realised that this is the way forward,” he said in a telephone interview.

He said the realisation had already dawned in Karnataka where the Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular) have formed the government.

He added that things are moving in the same directions in MP with reports of the Congress and the BSP trying to come together for the assembly elections later this year.

Referring to the byelections for Gorakhpur, Phulpur and Kairana Lok Sabha constituencies won by the Opposition in UP in the last few months, Mr Chaudhary said, “The three byelections have broken the myth of the BJP’s invincibility and all parties have realised the fact that this is the way forward.”