Even as the INDIA partners opened talks to arrive at a seat-sharing deal for the Lok Sabha elections, Union Minister and BJP leader, Giriraj Singh on Tuesday took a swipe at the Opposition alliance saying that it was created for pursuing ‘selfish motives’.
Speaking to ANI on Tuesday, the Union Minister said, “The INDI alliance does not represent the convergence of like-minded political interests. Rather, it is an alliance founded on self-seeking interests. The parties that came together under this grouping did not do so on the basis of a common ideology or policy.”
He noted further that while the regional states in the Opposition alliance are on a strong footing in states that they rule, the Congress would not be able to mine much electoral benefit by joining forces with them.
“There is the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh, JDU in Bihar, AAP in Delhi and Punjab, and Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress in West Bengal. However, these are disparate alliance partners and allying with them wouldn’t help the Congress much,” Singh said.
On the seat-sharing for the Lok Sabha elections, which remains a major point of contention for members in the INDIA bloc, the Union Minister said, “The Congress will get just 10 per cent of the total tickets, as per my estimation.”
Claiming that the Congress would be ‘finished’ in the Lok Sabha polls, the BJP leader said, “This is an alliance of selfish interests. In all likelihood, they will be fighting on a significantly fewer number of seats in West Bengal, Bihar, Delhi, UP and Punjab. You will see how many seats they get. It is the INDI alliance that is conspiring to finish off the Congress.”
The allocation of seats for the general elections is especially significant for the Congress after the heavy defeats in the assembly elections in the heartland states of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan.
