New Delhi- The INDIA bloc will meet and decide on Wednesday whether to approach former partners such as the JD(U) and the TDP to attempt government formation at the Centre, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said.
“We are going to have a meeting with our partners tomorrow. These questions will be raised and answered there,” Gandhi told a press conference here when asked if the Congress and its allies will approach parties that are part of the NDA to try and form a government.
He was addressing the press conference with senior Congress leaders as the Lok Sabha poll results and trends showed the BJP was set to become the single-largest party but would fall short of the magic figure of 272.
“We won’t say anything without asking the opinion of our allies. Our alliance will decide tomorrow and whatever they decide we will act on that,” Gandhi said.
The Congress leader said the general election was a fight to save the Constitution.
“It was on my mind that the people of this country would rally together to save the Constitution. The first and biggest step towards saving the Constitution has been taken,” he said, adding that it was the poor and the marginalised who stood up.
“India’s poorest and backward stood up to save the Constitution,” he said.
He added that the Congress, and the INDIA bloc have given India a new vision, a pro-poor vision.
“The main thing this election has said, the country has said, is that we don’t want Narendra Modi, Amit Shah to be running this country,” he said.
He said all Congress leaders respected INDIA bloc allies and wherever the alliance fought “we fought as one”.
Gandhi offered special thanks to the electorate of Uttar Pradesh for supporting the Congress and “protecting” the Constitution.
When asked if he would keep the Wayanad or Rae Bareli seat, Gandhi said he has not taken a decision yet.
On Congress candidate K L Sharma wresting the Amethi seat from the BJP’s Smriti Irani, Gandhi said the party loyalist had been working in the constituency for the past 40 years and his victory was certain.
“This seat will add to the tally to make a government led by Prime Minister Modi for the third time,” he said.
In 2019, Singh defeated Congress candidate Vikramaditya Singh by a margin of 353,272 votes. In 2014, he won aganst former Union minister Ghulam Nabi Azad by 60,976 votes and was subsequently appointed Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office.
Choudhary Lal Singh, who previously won the Udhampur seat on a Congress ticket in 2004 and 2009, posed a formidable challenge. A former MLA and minister in the PDP-Congress and PDP-BJP governments, Lal Singh rejoined Congress in March 2024.
The Udhampur constituency has been alternating between the Congress and the BJP.
Congress won six consecutive times from 1967, while BJP’s Chaman Lal Gupta secured three successive victories before Lal Singh’s two-term win in 2004 and 2009.
Jitendra Singh’s victories mark a significant achievement, underscoring the BJP’s stronghold in the region, BJP’s J&K unit president Ravinder Raina said.
“We won both the seats of Jammu and Udhampur with a large margin as people have reposed full faith in BJP and its candidates under the leadership of Modi ji,” he said.
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