New Delhi:
The Congress should “identify, mobilize and forge” like-minded secular parties to fight the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the party today said in a fresh push for opposition unity. The party said during a brainstorming conference in Chhattisgarh’s capital Raipur that the Third Front would only help the BJP in the elections.
“Unity of secular and socialist forces will be the hallmark of the Congress party’s future. Congress must go out of its way to identify, mobilize and align like-minded secular forces. We must involve secular regional forces that agree with our ideology” In a resolution, the party said, “There is an urgent need for a united opposition to counter the NDA on common ideological grounds. The emergence of a third force will benefit the BJP/NDA.”
In his address at the 85th Plenary Session of the Congress on Friday, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge said the party is looking forward to forging alliances with like-minded parties for the Lok Sabha elections. He said, in the present difficult situation, Congress is the only party in the country which can provide able and decisive leadership.
He said that from 2004 to 2014, the Congress-led coalition served the people of the country.
The Congress’s push for opposition unity comes at a time when regional parties are touting the idea of a third front for the national elections.
Bharat Rashtra Samithi (formerly known as Telangana Rashtra Samithi) President Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao held meetings with several opposition leaders including former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar Are. To form an anti-BJP front.
But veteran politicians like Mr. Pawar have said that the Congress cannot be left out of an alternative front.