Setting the tone for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, a few days ago BSP supremo Mayawati led the way for regional parties to snub the Congress in its bid to stitch a ‘mahagathbandhan’. Following her footsteps, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav too pushed away the grand old party and on Sunday, INLD chief and Jat strongman Om Prakash Chautala declared that he supports opposition unity and wants Mayawati to become the Prime Minister.
While RLD leader Jayant Chaudhary vouched for a united opposition for the 2019 elections, he also issued a word of advice for the Congress. He said the party will have to be "most accommodating" and give respect and support to the smaller parties for a "true rainbow coalition" to emerge.
Though Mayawati didn’t voice her alliance plans for the 2019 elections, she lambasted the Congress, saying it was still clinging to its arrogance and had not mend its ways.
In a speech that signalled that the ‘mahagathbandhan’ was crumbling ahead of the crucial 2019 polls, Mayawati said the Congress was conspiring to finish off the BSP and its leaders were sabotaging the alliance.
In a clear message to Congress ahead of the elections, Chaudhary said on Sunday, "The Congress is the largest opposition party in Parliament today. Definitely, it will have to be most accommodating and give respect and support to the smaller parties for a true rainbow coalition to emerge.”
"But also, to increase the size of the pie, I think all the partners will need to not stress on individual sizes as much."
This comes even as Congress continues to vouch for an anti-BJP front for the elections next year.
With the current BSP-SP bonhomie in Uttar Pradesh and Mayawati’s continued onslaught against the Congress, the latter tried to shrug off the attacks and said they did not pose any threats to the chances of a future grand alliance.
Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala even added that Mayawati had shared her opinion and expressed mutual respect for Sonia and Rahul Gandhi.
After the BSP chief announced that she planned to go solo in the Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan elections, Akhilesh Yadav said the SP would no longer wait for the Congress to decide on an alliance for Madhya Pradesh and instead look towards the BSP.
Yadav said, “We will now consult the Gondwana Gantantra Party with which we had an alliance and also the BSP for the coming assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh.”
A day later, Chautala said, “... we will work towards uniting the Opposition so that Mayawati becomes the next Prime Minister.”
The Jat leader even promised that if the INLD-BSP combine comes to power in Haryana, it will waive off the loans of farmers and weaker sections.
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