Elections 2019: BJP Has Core Vote, Congress Competing With Regional Parties For Space: Digvijaya Singh
“No regional party wants to see the Congress strong in its area,” says Digvijaya Singh on Mayawati’s opposition to grand alliance.
The Congress party’s competition for political space is more with India’s regional parties than with the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Congress Lok Sabha candidate from Bhopal and current Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament Digvijaya Singh told BloombergQuint.
The BJP has a core support base which is ideological. The other ideology—that of Gandhi, Lohia, Nehru—that is left-of-centre and socialist, there is competition on that.Digvijaya Singh, Congress Leader
Singh explained why the Congress finds itself with loggerheads with Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati, despite the opposition’s common desire to defeat the Narendra Modi-led BJP.
No regional party wants to see the Congress strong in its area.Digvijaya Singh, Congress Leader
As a result, the Congress has been unable to enter the alliance between BSP and the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh, and reach an agreement with the Aam Aadmi Party over the seats in Delhi. The Congress has finalised alliances in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Bihar, and Jharkhand.
Digvijaya Singh added that while a number of anti-BJP parties are contesting the Lok Sabha elections separately, he expects them to come together after the results on May 23.
I take you back to 2004. The SP, BSP, and Congress had contested separately. But when it came to government formation, the three came to an agreement on how the government would function, and did so for 10 years.Digvijaya Singh, Congress Leader
Watch that conversation here: