Madhya Pradesh: Congress should have a large heart in forging alliances, says CPI

At a time when opposition parties are stressing on forging a joint front to take on the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls, CPI national secretary Atul Anjaan said the Congress should have a large heart and be brave in forming an alliance as it is the biggest party.

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NEW DELHI: At a time when opposition parties are stressing on forging a joint front to take on the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls, CPI national secretary Atul Anjaan said the Congress should have a large heart and be brave in forming an alliance as it is the biggest party. Anjaan, the Communist Party of India's man in-charge of forming a non-BJP alliance in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Telangana, said that to defeat the BJP in 2019 Lok Sabha election, an alliance of non-BJP political forces is a must and it should be state specific. He also reminded the Congress of the Gujarat Assembly election, claiming it could have won the polls had it joined hands with smaller parties. "The Congress must have a large heart to attain its big political ambition. With a small heart, it can't attain a large political goal," said Anjaan. He said regional and smaller political parties should also shed their differences in forming an alliance to defeat the BJP in the next general elections. Noting that seat sharing is the key to striking successful alliances in 2019 polls, the CPI leader cited the example of Gujarat. "The BJP's defeat in Gujarat was almost certain had Congress formed alliance with more small political parties. The Congress had lost about 20 seats with a margin of 300-1900 votes. Forming an alliance with smaller parties could have won at least 10 more seats," said Anjaan. He added that "Gujarat model of BJP was almost a close chapter but due to Congress' miscalculations, it is still alive". Taking a swipe at Congress chief Rahul Gandhi for his temple visits before starting campaign in poll-bound states, the CPI national secretary said, "By visiting temples alone you cannot win. You have to be realistic, you must have sense on ground reality." On the issue of seat sharing in Telangana, Anjaan said other parties of the Congress-led grand alliance cannot wait for long. "We can't keep waiting for Congress' formal announcement. We are preparing for the elections. Our primary objective is to defeat the BJP," added Anjaan. The CPI wanted to have alliance with the Congress in both Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan but the grand old party declined it. The Left party has already tied up with Janta Congress Chhattisgarh (J) of Ajit Jogi and BSP in Chhattisgarh.