Acknowledging the inability of Congress party to be a challenger to the Narendra Modi led BJP, senior Congress leader AK Antony has urged his party to join hands with other opposition parties to defeat the BJP as he believes Congress party alone cannot stop the Modi juggernaut.
Speaking at the general body meeting of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) on Friday, the former Defence Minister said that Congress party has realised that it is not strong enough to take on the BJP alone and emphasised on the need of an alliance to defeat Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“Congress alone cannot bring down Narendra Modi from power. But still, Congress is the crucial force to lead the campaign to oust Modi from power. Hence, Congress is looking for a broader alliance to defeat the BJP,” said AK Antony while addressing party workers at Thiruvananthapuram.
“The Congress is the main political force that could lead the fight to end the Modi rule,” said AK Antony. “The Congress will take the initiative to forge alliances in various States with parties willing to cooperate with it,” he added.
AK Antony, who is also a member of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) further added that Congress President Rahul Gandhi is the only opponent Prime Minister Narendra Modi fears in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections. He also added the old declaration that Rahul Gandhi, the 48-year-old son of Sonia Gandhi, has come of age to lead Congress. Antony also claimed that Rahul Gandhi has evolved as a strong leader and is now capable of fighting Modi.
Describing the upcoming Lok Sabha elections as a “Kurukshetra battle”, senior Congress leader Antony said that communal forces must be ousted from power to save the country. He cautioned the state Congress leaders against delaying ticket distribution for the upcoming general elections. “The decision has to come from the district committees. The selection should be made in a democratic way rather than decided by a few leaders,” he said.
While senior leaders of the Congress party urging other opposition parties to join hands with them, some opposition parties seem to have doubts regarding joining hands with the Congress. Recently, SP and BSP came together in Uttar Pradesh to contest against BJP, without even considering Congress a choice to be their partner in the alliance. After being ignored, Congress party has now decided to contest all the 80 seats from Uttar Pradesh in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.