Rahul Gandhi not acceptable as pivot to many Opposition parties: BJP

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday said that several Opposition parties have refused to accept Congress president Rahul Gandhi as a pivot and dubbed the Opposition unity against the NDA as a "bogus claim". "That the so-called Opposition unity against the BJP is a bogus claim is evident from the multiple fronts being forged by non-NDA parties," BJP spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao said. The BJP leader was responding to a question on Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) chief K Chandrasekhar Rao’s recent meeting with Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik and scheduled meetings with Mamata Banerjee, Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav to garner support for the anti-BJP Federal Front minus Congress.

"The efforts of TRS chief KCR (K Chandrasekhar Rao) and the apparent interest of some regional parties shows that the Congress and its President Rahul Gandhi are not acceptable as a pivot to many parties outside the NDA," Narasimha Rao said.

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The Telangana chief minister on Sunday met with Biju Janata Dal (BJD) president Naveen Patnaik in Bhubaneswar. Today, he is expected to meet with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata to discuss the anti-BJP, anti-Congress front for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) chief is scheduled to meet several Opposition leaders, over the next few days. His party has even hired a special chartered plane for a month to ease KCR’s travel across the country.

From Kolkata, KCR’s next stop will be Delhi where will meet Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati and Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav. Both Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav, who used to be sworn enemies of each other, have formed a pre-poll alliance in Uttar Pradesh for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The BSP-SP alliance excluded Congress which makes both the leaders crucial for KCR’s mission to bring forth the anti-BJP, Congress Federal Front.

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The BJP spokesperson, however, feels that KCR’s antics will not work as the party will highlight in its election campaigns that these “ragtag coalitions” are driven by personal agenda and has nothing to do with the country’s development.

“The BJP will highlight in campaigns that these ragtag coalitions are a threat to stability and development and are driven by personal agendas,” JVL was quoted as saying by PTI.