MUMBAI: The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) believes that the opposition parties are coming together to oppose the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the Centre on an issue-based platform and they need not project a prime ministerial candidate before the 2019 elections.
NCP general secretary D.P. Tripathi said on Thursday that the leadership of such an alliance would emerge after the results.
Mr Tripathi said that the people will choose the leader in the polls. “The opposition unity will be issue-based and it will be stronger. There is no need to have a face as leader of the non-BJP alliance before the polls. Leadership will emerge after the election results.”
To a query, if Shiv Sena, the BJP’s estranged ally can be a part of such a coalition, Mr Tripathi said anything is possible in politics. “Politics is pregnant with possibilities. There is a difference between the BJP and the Sena. The Sena is Maharashtra specific and does not pose a danger to secularism in the country.”
Responding to a question if Sharad Pawar will lead the national coalition against the BJP and be the prime ministerial candidate, Mr Tripathi said, “We don’t have strength in Parliament to make tall claims.”
Mr Tripathi also said the combined opposition should have one candidate against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Varanasi in 2019. Referring to the remark of BJP president Amit Shah on opposition unity efforts as the coming together of all kinds of vermin, Mr Tripathi said Mr Shah admits that Mr Modi is a calamity. Mr Shah had said in his speech that Mr Modi is like a deluge which all animals (opposition parties) fear and scamper on a single tree. Mr Tripathi also said the NCP is unconditionally supporting the Congress in the upcoming Karnataka assembly elections.
“We have decided not to contest the Karnataka polls and unconditionally supported the Congress to defeat the BJP. Last time we contested six seats and supported three independents. The Karnataka results are decisive. If the BJP loses, it will be certain that the Modi government will be defeated in 2019,” he said.
