A file image of Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
Credit: PTI Photo
Mumbai: The Shiv Sena (UBT) on Tuesday asked Congress to introspect and take steps for Opposition unity in view of AAP announcing to go solo in Delhi Assembly polls and Mamata Banerjee's politics of distancing TMC from the Grand Old Party.
The Uddhav Thackeray-led party stressed the need to convince Arvind Kejriwal to continue to be part of the I.N.D.I.A. bloc in an editorial in the party mouthpiece Saamana.
"In West Bengal, (TMC chief) Mamata Banerjee is trying to do politics by keeping Congress at a distance. Now Kejriwal is also treading the same path. This is a matter where the Congress has to introspect and take steps for (opposition) unity," the editorial said.
On Sunday, AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal ruled out the possibility of an alliance between his party and the Congress. The AAP and Congress, both part of the opposition alliance, contested the 2024 Lok Sabha polls in Delhi, Haryana, and Gujarat together.
If a party like the AAP, which is part of the I.N.D.I.A. bloc, gives a call to go solo in the Delhi Assembly elections, then the Congress has to work hard so that this phenomenon does not spread to other states, the Saamana said.
The AAP could win Punjab polls due to its work in Delhi. The AAP defeated the Congress in Punjab and kept the Congress and the BJP in check in the national capital, it said.
"It is a necessity to have the AAP in an anti-BJP alliance," the Sena (UBT) said, adding that the AAP is not a regional party anymore as it has expanded in other states.
The AAP and Congress will do good in Gujarat if they work together, the Shiv Sena (UBT) added.