NewDelhi: Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut has urged the Congress party to step up and take responsibility for keeping the INDIA opposition alliance united amid growing worries about its future. The alliance’s survival is the only crucial thing for the opposition in Indian politics, Raut said Tuesday when speaking to reporters.
The opposition will not survive if we do not keep the INDIA alliance alive.” Raut warned the opposition parties that they will be ‘eliminated’ by the BJP. And he stressed that as an alliance it was for the Lok Sabha election, but now that it’s needed for the country and democracy.
Talking about the Delhi Assembly polls, Raut admitted to the complexities of local alliances. “This is put up in Delhi between the two big forces of Congress and AAP, who couldn’t come together in Lok Sabha polls,” he said. He said his challenge was to try and find currency in a compromise that would benefit all concerned.
Raut also spoke about Maharashtra, saying even though local body elections were difficult for alliances, the coalition was intact when it came to Lok Sabha and state assembly polls.
But no, there is always news that the INDIA alliance has been broken; the Maha Vikas Aghadi has broken, but not that. Shiv Sena (UBT) leader says. But the alliance is sweeping in its ideologies, he acknowledged, but stressed that unity is necessary.
Raut also urged the Congress, as the other largest party in the alliance, to be the torchbearer in keeping the alliance together. Congress should be the one keeping us united. “The point is, you have to be in a continuous dialogue,” he said, adding that this sharing must take place between alliance partners.
Raut’s comments come at a time when the INDIA bloc, which contested the Lok Sabha elections in collaboration, faces its first major test.