Eight opposition parties meet to cobble alliance sans Congress

Bhopal: Eight Opposition parties on Sunday began talks to cobble a coalition, christened ‘Mahagathbandhan’ or grand alliance, to stop division of non-BJP votes in year-end assembly elections and 2019 parliamentary polls in Madhya Pradesh.

The eight parties, the Loktantrik Janata Dal, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India, Bahujan Sanghars Dal, Gandwana Ganatantra Party, Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Samant Dal and Prajatantrik Samadhan Party, also decided to approach Congress soon to join their alliance, Lok Janata Dal convener Govind Yadav told reporters. Incidentally, all the eight parties barring Gandwana Ganatantra Party (GGP) are considered no forces in Madhya Pradesh.

GGP, a tribal party, has influence in around half a dozen assembly constituencies particularly in Mahakoshal region of MP. The party can however influence outcome of polls in the assembly elections in around 15 assembly constituencies.

BSP has already decided to go it alone in MP, while SP has initiated talks on seat sharing with GGP separately. Congress however appears not to give much importance to the newly formed political combination.

“It is a pressure tactics by these parties on Congress to concede a few seats to them in MP. We will not buckle under their pressure since we know the seats allotted to them will be lost and finally will go to BJP”, a spokesman of Congress said.