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An upbeat Congress General Secretary said that the NDA existed only in the mind of the BJP and not on the ground and confidently asserted that the saffron party will sit in the opposition.
At an hour-long press conference ahead of the fourth phase of polling on Thursday, Gandhi said the Congress would do better than in the last elections when it got 145 seats on its own.
"After elections, all options are open. ...We have always been open to post-poll alliances", he said at the media interaction, the third in the series, in which he had some good words for Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu.
"I respect Naidu. He has done a good job....may be he focused on Hyderabad . I am not saying (only we have leaders) There are leaders who are in the opposition. Nitish for example ....I think the intention (to work) is there," he said replying to a question whether non-Congress governments are not doing well in the matter of development.
Earlier in the press conference, Gandhi said that Nitish Kumar's JD-U and Jayalalithaa's AIADMK, who were or are part of the NDA, were now facing the question (of options) because the NDA is "finished" throughout the country and was existing only in namesake.
"Nitish Kumar, Jayalalithaa and many like minded parties are feeling that the NDA is not winning. After elections all options are open".
Gandhi was sure that the Congress would form a government. "But in a democracy, if it so happens, we have no choice," he said in reply to a question whether the party was ready to sit in the opposition.
Asked about post-poll tie-up with the Left parties, he said there were ideological differences but there were also a lot of common points.
"....on a lot of concepts we agree with the Left like education and health. There is a lot of meeting ground with the Left. There is absolutely no meeting ground with BJP for what they did in Gujarat and Karnataka and burnt Christians in Orissa. There is a lot of common ground to do with the Left. There is a reasonable amount of common space," he replied.
"I am pretty confident that the Left will support a Manmohan Singh government. I am confident that the Left would rather have a Congress Prime Minister", he said adding "the field is open to post-poll alliances".
Asked whether the Congress would compromise on its Prime Ministerial candidate if the Left was not ready for Manmohan Singh, Gandhi said "Singh is the best Prime Ministerial candidate for the country. The Congress does not compromise on its thinking which it showed on the nuclear deal."
Saying his views on the Left was his personal, he said he did say that the Left had old ideas -- 20 to 30 years old view on nuclear deal -- and integration with global economy but he was confident that the Left would be forced to accept that the world has changed.
Asked if Congress would support the Left parties, which had supported the UPA for over four years, in forming the government, Gandhi appeared to be sarcastic when he said "we will consider that if the Left gets 180-190 MPs. We will consider them. I hope they are able to achieve that. If they do, I will be first person to say let us support Left".
Similarly, when asked if the party would back Sharad Pawar as Prime Minister, Gandhi said, "If the NCP becomes the biggest party in India then that option is open."
He dismissed as "figment of media's imagination" suggestions that the allies of Congress are not favouring Manmohan Singh as Prime Minister.
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Who is calling the shot in Congress ? Mother, Son or their Chief Executive of Congress Co. Pvt. Ltd.? Rahul does not consider any leader in existence in Congress Co. other than his mother !! With his few years in Congress, he came above all those poor congressmen and leaders. Is this a political party or a real corporate house?
Fantastic comments by Yuvraj, what does he mean by Bofors - a dead issue? Well when diff. Gen.Secy's of Congress are making their own judgement. Mr.Moily is saying they will not sit in opposition, Mr.Digvijay is saying they will sit in opposition, Mr.Yuvraj is saying they will get support from Left...crazy guys...cant all these jhonnies keep their mouth shut until election gets over and then do their mathematics...they seem to be nervouse and are confident that they will not WIN this election. This is what i could understand from his meeting. Btw who is he to judge what Mr.Nitish is doing or trying to do...had he ever taken such position and shown is capability. We need to know what is his performance as an MP in Amethi. If he has guts let him come out openly and say what he had achieved on his own as an MP for Amethi!
kicked left with left leg when you were comfortable with LALU AND Mulayam. now when u do not have numbers u r begging left for their numbers.shame shame shame
If such loose talks of post poll alliances can be so freely indulged, what is wrong in India going for a national government, with suitable understanding among parties regarding power sharing.
Sir Rahul Gandhi is a total naive in politics. He is talking big when he has just started his political career. But Rahul can not be blamed for feeling big as he knows that someone is keeping the PM seat hot for him. Let him first become an apprentice for learning the intricacies of complex Indian politics. He will be no match for the experienced people like Pranab Mukherjee or the likes of Mulayam Singh, Lalu Mayawati etc. etc.. Let him toil with masses to learn the difficulties of life. Let congress people have some self-respect and assert themselves. After all, Congress is a GOP and has a rich history. It is now the time when th old congress men should assert themselves. It was really funny that when Rahul has yet to graduate in the Indian politics, the media enquiring from Priyanka Gandhi about the possibility of her children entering into politics. That was the lowest point in Indian journalism.
From a party which claims it is willing to sit in opposition to a party willing to negotiate with the left is a downfall which has marked its behaviour since 1977. It is time that Indians woke up to the power of money and power of the underworld in the Indian body politic. And Rahul is supposed to lead the youth. Well now we see him to be misleading the youth!
Congress wants to stay in power by hook or crook and doesn't mind sacrificing its SELF RESPECT.. LEFT has been telling now and again that they are for NON-CONGRESS, NON-BJP govt at the center. The congress has been taunting the idea of THIRD or FOURTH fronts. Now the same congress shamelessly woos the left with a single minded objective of staying in power.. (60 years of looting India is not to end ? ) Even in the last election when it did not have people's mandate it formed an kitcdi amalgamation under So called SECULAR (??) platform with the sole objective of grabing power and keeping BJP away.. These parties that call themselves secular should know that it is they who are creating the communal divide for votes by raking up the communal issues during elections when in reality there is no need for such things. These parties never talk about development and want to score only by called BJP communal. Mayavathi has no programme beyong giving reservation to SC/ST/minorities and she wants to become PM for this... Congress talks about SECULAR GOVT as though there was hundreds of communal clashes during BJP rule and minorities were pushed to PAKI... Communists are preoccupied with Nuclear deal, America, Israel, Capitalism whereas they could not IMPLEMENT their development plans in West Bengal where they are in power for 30 years and rather they have succeeded only in transforming BENGAL and KERALA to IMPOVERISHED STATES. Common man wants DEVELOPMENT programmes from political parties and not hoodwinking with non-existant concepts like SECULARISM.... Political parties should know that SECULARISM manifests best through IMPARTIAL DEVELOPMENT OF ALL and not through dry marxist speeches,political tantrums or playing to the gallery..
All newspapers and TV channels are all singing and writing in praise of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. It is not good for democracy. Rahul's rice is not good for democracy.
It is obvious that Congress and UPA in its current avatar will not be in a position to form the government. So, they are scouting for any ally, even someone who has kicked them on the butt.There is another side to such stories. Why didn't the IE publish the response of D. Raja of the CPI to this statement by Rahul? an Padmashree SG shed some light on why his paper tells only that side of the story that favors the other SG and her family?
Mr. Rahul Gandhi and Pariayanka Gandhi failed to woo the voters to vote and now have smelles the falling number game to grab the "Dill" are now fishing if the troubled Indian political waters by extending olive branch to all and sundry. Will Mr. Rahul explain the fate of US civil Nuclear deal for which the Lok Sabha was filled with alleged black money paid for bribery to MP's. He is still a dwarh in Indian politics
It is expected one, once against they are foolish Indian people. So next two round election is still on, congress now realize they not able to form government, so they woo other good NDA partners. But they not achieved, because they now congress wanted to finish them, Now take look Orissa, Navin patayanik already finished because they part away from NDA. So Rahul gandhi try to save congress but all in vain, BJP itself got Simple majority for this electin..
Rahul’s olive branch to Left: It is of great news to the leaders in the Congress party especially the youth icon, Mr. Rahul is ready to seek the support of the left to form the Govt. Rahul, after touring the different parts of the country must have come to the conclusion that UPA will be compelled to look for support outside its erstwhile partners. I do not see the need for the UPA to get the support of left. This will become a necessity if BSP or SP and/or BJD decline to extend their support. . If the congress gets the support of left, the former will have to dump Trinamool congress. This will not be a good strategy. The congress can easily get the support of even parties like JD (u) PMK and other minor parties with couple of MPs without compromising much on it policies. These minor parties will fall prey to perks and privileges. Hence the best course of action will be to go after the non- BJP alliance partners rather than with the left.Long live Democracy.
It looks that he needs some body to teach history and how to give statements. Childishness and irrelevant statements make more attractive to become PM. A MAD PM
Did this dumbhead mean a 'systemic' issue?
Mr. Rahul Gandhi and Congress party are becoming wiser and wiser by the days he live. Only they are very much delayed. This wisdom should have visited them at the time of pushing the Nuclear Deal through by clandestine means.
The recent overture of PM and Rahul of working happy with Left after the elections are over is really baffling. After all confident PM after the No Confidence Motion said that I was treated like bonded labour by Left. Is he ready to work and accept as bonded weak PM as again as BJP is trying to potraying in these election? Rajkumar,Chennai
UPA and Left know it very well that had they stayed together and fought this election they would have been beaten blue to death by the electorate. So they wanted to fool the indian electorate, show how principled they were and how much they have done for the country; wanted to maintain farce of fighting against each other till the elections are almost over. Now it is time for patch up (at least that is what congress thinks) and start the shoddy governing all over again. Lage raho secular log!