Congress leader Jairam Ramesh also said that any Opposition alliance in the 2024 elections must be based on a constructive agenda not just a negative agenda of anti-BJP or anti-regime.
The Congress on Saturday said that the party should be the fulcrum of any Opposition coalition against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2024 general elections. It further said the coalition would be meaningless without the Congress.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra in Jammu and Kashmir, Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh further said the agenda of the Opposition should be constructive and not negative or just anti-BJP.
Ramesh said the Congress will begin political talks and negotiations after Rahul-led Bharat Jodo Yatra is concluded on January 30.
He said, “Any Opposition platform to defeat the BJP must be based on two realities. Reality number one, Congress must be the pivot or fulcrum of any Opposition alliance, and, without the Congress, no Opposition alliance is relevant and meaningful. Any Opposition alliance must be based on a constructive agenda not just a negative agenda of anti-BJP or anti-regime. It must be based on a constructive and positive agenda.”
Ramesh said the political issues like coalition-building are not the business of Bharat Jodo Yatra but the party will begin the process of talking to political parties after the Yatra. Ramesh said that Congress is for the restoration of the statehood of Jammu and Kashmir.
Addressing the absence of many political parties in the final leg of Bharat Jodo Yatra in Srinagar on January 30, Ramesh said it’s not a setback to the party.
He said, “I don’t see the absence of anybody who is being invited and not being present at the end of Bharat Jodo Yatra as a setback. They may have other preoccupations.”
Ramesh said the concluding day of Rahul’s Bharat Jodo Yatra on January 30 in Srinagar is not a coalition-building exercise.
He said, “Let me make it absolutely clear that the function of Bharat Jodo Yatra on January 30 is not coalition-building exercise. For the function on January 30, an invitation was extended in good faith to like-minded political parties who we believe oppose the policies and programmes of the BJP. It is not to build platform for 2024.
“It was, as I said, a courtesy extended to like-minded parties to come and take part in the formal conclusion of the Bharat Jodo Yatra’s flag-hoisting ceremony at the PCC office at Lal Chowk. The parties had been invited to take advantage of Bharat Jodo Yatra. So I don’t see it as a setback.”