Senior Congress functionary Sam Pitroda has just confirmed what has been speculated about the Congress and its sham of ‘fighting alone’ in UP. Speaking to ANI, Pitroda has recently stated that the goal of the opposition parties is to oust the BJP and “They will come together at the right time”.

Pitroda has just confirmed what was being speculated in the political circles since long, that the Congress is, in fact, always in the alliance and ‘Gathbandhan’ mode and is willing to compromise with regional parties to any level. Pitroda has stated that the goal is to defeat the Modi government and when the time comes, all the opposition parties will come together, that is, to form a united opposition.

Soon after the SP and BSP announced a ‘Mahagathbandhan’ leaving Congress out, it was speculated that the ‘leaving out’ was just eyewash for the public and the parties were working in cahoot with each other. The SP-BSP-RLD had fielded candidates from 78 seats in UP, leaving out just Raebareli and Amethi, the two seats of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.

Recently, Priyanka Gandhi had stated to the media that BJP will lose big in UP. She had added that when the Congress candidate is strong, they will win, but when the Congress candidate is ‘weak’ they will cut into the votes of BJP, subtly hinting that the careful mixture of caste politics and vote cutting will sway some BJP voters, helping the Gathbandhan candidates win.

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Priyanka’s statement, however, had soon attracted flak from SP and BSP. Seeing the negative comments, Priyanka had soon made a U-turn and stated that Congress has all strong candidates in UP. For careful observers, it has always been evident that the SP-BSP and Congress were busy in shadow boxing before the elections to score maximum possible seats, just to enter into an alliance post the Lok Sabha elections.

Rahul Gandhi too had stated that wherever the Congress does not have a strong candidate, they will help the Gathbandhan, with the primary goal of cutting BJP’s votes.

Both Akhilesh and Mayawati had slammed the statements, while Akhilesh has stated that the Congress is giving excuses as it is facing defeat, Mayawati has stated that a vote to Congress means wasting the vote.

It is interesting to note that Congress, which had ruled over India for the most part of its post-independence history, has now been reduced to ‘vote cutting’ manoeuvres and is practically bending over backwards for obtaining the support of regional parties.

The seven-phase Lok Sabha elections in 2019 have seen 4 phases so far. With three more phases remaining till final counting on May 23, it will b interesting to watch how the parties will perform and whether the people of India will buy the farce of Gathbandhans and divisive politics.