No Opposition front viable without Congress: MPCC chief Patole
The Hindu
Have never spoken of anti-BJP front without Congress, says Sena MP after visit of TRS chief
A day after Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao’s talks with Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar to stitch up an anti-BJP front, the Maharashtra Congress leadership said no grand coalition of Opposition parties was possible without the Congress.
Mr. Rao, the president of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), had held talks for several hours with both Mr. Thackeray and Mr. Pawar during his day-long visit to Mumbai on Sunday, but did not meet any leaders from the Congress in Maharashtra.
The Congress is in alliance with the Sena and the NCP in Maharashtra where the three parties have formed the ‘Maha Vikas Aghadi’ coalition against the BJP.
Remarking that a Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) was the only viable option against the BJP, Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee chief Nana Patole said Mr. Rao’s anti-BJP alliance could not succeed without the Congress’ participation.
“The BJP government at the Centre is acting in an authoritarian manner, bent on destroying the Constitution. While Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao making efforts to unite regional parties against the BJP’s dictatorship, it will not succeed without the Congress,” Mr. Patole said.
Commenting on Mr. Rao’s ‘Maharashtra mission’, Congressman and Maharashtra Energy Minister Nitin Raut said perhaps regional parties were thinking of forming an anti-BJP front at the regional level before taking on the saffron party at the national level.
“The Congress is more than 100 years’ old. It has a presence in every nook and cranny in the country. So, if opposition parties are thinking of forming a grand opposition without the Congress, they should realise that such a thing is not possible. [NCP chief] Sharad Pawar himself has said that such a front is not possible without the Congress,” said Mr. Raut.