State unit views final on alliances: Congress

Congress on Tuesday unveiled the broad contours of its plans to forge alliances for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and made it clear that the views of the state unit will prevail.

Congress Working Committee, at its meeting in Ahmedabad, also urged all democratic and progressive forces to unite and pool their energies to relentlessly fight and expose the anti-people policies of the BJP government.

The party's top decision-making body also put its seal of approval on its approach to seek state-specific alliances to remove the Modi government in the elections and to repair the “grave damage” it had caused to “our democratic polity, economy and society.

“The Congress party will approach the people of India with humility to seek their support in the upcoming elections for itself and its allies in different states,” read the CWC resolution at a meeting chaired by Congress President Rahul Gandhi.

The meeting was attended by top leaders including UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, former prime minister Manmohan Singh, senior leaders Mallikarjun Kharge, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.

Rahul made it clear that none of the alliances would be forced by the central leadership of the Congress and the views of the state units would be final.

The central leadership of the Congress was under pressure from other Opposition leaders on an alliance with Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi, but Rahul went with the wishes of the state unit which wanted to go it alone in the elections.

Similarly, Congress spurned the pressure from opposition leaders to enter into some understanding with the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal.

Rahul again went by the opinion of the West Bengal Congress who favoured an alliance with the CPM. However, the Congress had to bow down to the wishes of the ally by giving up claims on two key seats considered as strongholds of the grand old party.