RLD workers celebrate their victory in bypoll elections in Kairana. (Express Photo by Gajendra Yadav)
WITH THE Opposition alliance trouncing the BJP in Kairana, just months after the SP-BSP combine dealt a blow to the ruling party in Gorakhpur and Phulpur, the Congress is looking at a seat-sharing arrangement with the BSP in Madhya Pradesh and an understanding with all like-minded parties in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.
“A united Opposition can defeat the BJP. Everyone must understand this,” senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh told The Indian Express. On a possible tie-up with the BSP in Madhya Pradesh, he said state Congress chief Kamal Nath was holding discussions on the matter.
Jyotiraditya Scindia, the party’s campaign committee chief in Madhya Pradesh, said while it was too early to talk about any tie-up with the BSP, “we believe that all like-minded parties must come together”. He said the results on Thursday was a continuation of the trend seen in bypolls in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh earlier. “The country is tired of the BJP’s ‘mayajaal’, and is looking for change. We have had enough of Modi’s ‘mann ki baat’. Now it is time for him to listen to everyone’s ‘jann ki baat’,” he said.
Senior Opposition leaders said “secular, democratic forces should forge a broad unity” to take on the BJP. “This is the only way to defeat the BJP,” said CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury.
However, he said the bypoll outcome could not be attributed to just the Opposition parties coming together. “The BJP’s vote share has substantially declined in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand. This means that the people have come to realise that this government must go, both for the country and for the people’s own welfare. That is the clear-cut message,” he said.
AAP leader and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the results reflected the anger against the Modi government.