New Delhi: With the Opposition unity seemed to be working on the grounds, the Congress could adopt a flexible position while stitching up a grand alliance for 2019.
A jubilant Congress termed the outcome of the bypolls as the people’s mandate against the four years of the Narendra Modi rule and the beginning of the end of BJP’s empire. Since the election of the President of India the Congress has been working for a grand alliance and it is also ready to walk the extra mile to accommodate its allies.
In the recently, concluded Karnataka assembly elections the Congress teamed up with the JD(S) in a post poll alliance. Inspite of being the single largest party with almost double the seats of the JD(S), the Congress relinquished the post of the chief minister for the JD(S) to keep the BJP out of power in the state.
With the results of bypolls coming out on Thursday the alliance of regional parties with the Congress was able to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party. This indicative of the fact that if the arithmetic is right the BJP can be defeated by the grand alliance.
In Uttar Pradesh, Lok Sabha and assembly bypoll the Congress did not field its candidate instead went out of the way by sending some it leaders to help the alliance candidate win from both Kairana Lok Sabha seat and Noorpur assembly seat.
Similarly, in Bihar and Maharashtra also the alliance with the regional party did much better than fighting separately and dividing the votes. But, officially the Congress does not want to give fuel to the narrative that its Mr. Narendra Modi versus the rest of the Opposition.
Replying to a question, Congress spokesman Pramod Tewari said it is incorrect to project that the fight is between Modi and more than a dozen opposition parties. “Actually, Modi has as many as 47 parties on his side. And, therefore, it is not correct to say that the fight is between Modi and the Opposition parties,” Mr Tiwari added.
