lok-sabha-elections

Updated: Mar 13, 2019 14:30 IST

Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said his party is firming up its alliances with different parties in various states to “defeat” Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Lok Sabha election. Gandhi asserted that the opposition is “united” against the Narendra Modi government.

“Alliances have firmed up in a number of states like Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Jharkhand. Talks on alliance in Bihar have practically concluded. Conversation on alliance in J&K is close to the final stages,” Gandhi told a press conference in Chennai.

“Entire opposition is united and fighting Narendra Modi and the RSS…We will defeat Mr Narendra Modi,” Gandhi said.

This comes on a day when the leaders from the Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal are holding talks in New Delhi to reach at an agreement for the parliamentary polls. The Congress and the RJD are alliance partners in Bihar, where they had defeated the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance in 2015 assembly polls. The Janata Dal (United) of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was then part of the grand-alliance.

Since the JD(U) parted ways with the grand-alliance in 2017 and went to go back to the NDA fold, the RJD-Congress alliance have cobbled up tie-ups with the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party of former Union minister Upendra Kushwaha, the Hindustan Awam Morcha-Secular of former Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, the Loktantrik Janata Dal of Sharad Yadav and Vikassheel Insan Party of Mukesh Sahni.

The Congress and the RJD are yet to finalise a seat sharing pact for the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Bihar among the alliance partners. AICC general secretary KC Venugopal and senior Congress Ahmed Patel are expected to seal the seat sharing deal with Tejashwi Yadav of the RJD, Kushwaha, Manjhi, Yadav and Sahni at their Delhi talks.

The Congress intends to contest 12 to 13 seats in Bihar. In the 2014 Lok Sabha election, the Congress had contested on 12 Lok Sabha seats. The RJD had fielded its candidates on 27 seats while one seat was given to the Nationalist Congress Party, whose Tariq Anwar had won from the Katihar Lok Sabha constituency. Anwar is now with the Congress.