Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Tuesday said that the Congress doesn’t need allies in the state to fight the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and expressed confidence in winning hands down.
“Given the public sentiment in Punjab, where the Congress has won all the recent elections – including Gurdaspur and Shahkot – with record margins, the party is in no need of an alliance for the parliamentary elections next year,” he said.
Claiming that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has completely lost support of the people in Punjab, the CM clarified that he had not at any stage mentioned that he was open to an alliance between the Congress and AAP in Punjab.
Amarinder, however, reiterated that the final decision on pre-poll alliances rested with the Congress high command, and its decision would be accepted and followed by all the state units in Punjab or elsewhere.
“[Decision on] alliances are the prerogative of the top leadership, and they will take a decision at a suitable time,” he said, adding that several factors, including chances of victory, are usually taken into account by the party before going in for an alliance.
“As far as the Punjab Congress is concerned, it will share its views with the party high command as and when the latter seeks the same,” said Amarinder.
The CM said that as has been in the past, the national leadership of the party will take into account the ground situation in every state and the opinion of the state unit before taking a final decision on any alliance. He added that the PPCC would also be internally discussing the issue as and when required to build a consensus on the matter.
Earlier on Sunday, the Punjab CM had said the Congress should explore all alliance possibilities for next year’s Parliamentary elections and party president Rahul Gandhi should lead the joint front of the Opposition parties to boot the divisive Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA out of power.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) session in New Delhi, the CM said that alliances for the Lok Sabha polls would be worked out by the party at the national level, with the state units following suit. This statement had triggered speculation that the Congress may be open for alliance with AAP which won of its four Lok Sabha seats in Punjab.