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The Congress has to be the pivot of any alliance of the opposition parties against the BJP in the 2024 parliamentary elections to make it meaningful, party’s communication in-charge Jairam Ramesh said in Srinagar on Saturday.
Claiming that Bharat Jodo Yatra was not intended at electoral gains, Jairam said once it is over, the Congress will begin the process of talks and negotiations to cobble up an electoral alliance among the opposition parties.
“Let me make it absolutely clear that the January 30 event is not a coalition-building exercise. It was an invitation extended in good faith to the like-minded parties opposed to the policies and programmes of the BJP,” Ramesh said at a press conference in reply to a question regarding the absence of some political leaders at the concluding ceremony of the Bharat Jodo Yatra.
Ramesh, however, said that Congress has to be the pivot of any opposition alliance. “After this (Bharat Jodo Yatra), we will begin the process of political talks and negotiations,” he said. “Any opposition platform to defeat the BJP must be based on two realities — Congress must be the fulcrum to make it relevant or meaningful; and there should be a constructive agenda, beyond the anti-BJP sentiment.”
The Congress general secretary said the Yatra will complete 4,080 km on Sunday, the last day. “We covered a total of 75 districts and walked, on an average, 24-24km every day,” he said, adding that the government reinforced the security of Rahul Gandhi after Friday’s security breach in south Kashmir.
Speaking at the presser, party’s J&K president Vikar Rasool said the UT administration had “closed roads and traffic” and they got calls from several areas that people were not being allowed to join the Yatra. “Despite that, we had thousands of people from all walks of life in our Yatra,” Rasool said.
