No national level pre-poll alliances: Cong

With Nitish Kumar taking over as JD (U) President with an eye on projection as a prime ministerial candidate, the Congress on Thursday said it was “too premature” to talk of national alliances for the 2019 General Elections.

A day after AICC General Secretary Digvijaya Singh said the party was ready to work with Nitish at the national level, Congress senior spokesman Anand Sharma said it was “too premature to comment in the absence of any proposal or commitment”.

At the same time, Sharma said the Congress had always stood for the larger interest of the “secular and democratic” forces and same was evident in the grand alliance it had joined in Bihar and the understanding it had reached with the Left parties in West Bengal.

Nitish took charge as the President of the JD (U) from Sharad Yadav on last Sunday, a move that is seen as his eventual projection as the prime ministerial face in the 2019 elections.

The JD (U) has also set in motion a consolidation process by discussing merger with the splinter groups of the erstwhile Janata Party. However, Nitish may need the support of the Congress, the Left parties as well as some regional outfits to put up a strong fight against the BJP in the next general elections.

A senior Congress leader rejected the idea of the party being part of a national pre-poll alliance. He pointed out that the Shimla Declaration of the Congress in 2003 made it clear that the party would enter pre-election understanding at state level or at the regional level.