Kerala Chief Minister suggests state-level alliances to defeat BJP in 2024 Lok Sabha polls

KOCHI: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday suggested state-level alliances of the anti-BJP parties to deal a major blow to the saffron party in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. The senior member of the CPI(M) politburo also asked if Congress was ready to adopt such a strategy at the regional level.

Speaking at a programme organised at Angamaly near here, Vijayan said that in today’s times, it would be difficult to form a new national-level front that would be able to take on the BJP and remove it from power.

ഏപ്രിൽ 10 സ. എം സി ജോസഫൈൻ ദിനം.

അങ്കമാലി സിഎസ്എ ഹാളിൽ അനുസ്മരണ സമ്മേളനം ഉദ്ഘാടനം ചെയ്ത് സ. പിണറായി വിജയൻ സംസാരിക്കുന്നു. pic.twitter.com/4uDA15Bt8B

— CPI(M) Kerala (@CPIMKerala) April 10, 2023

”So we need to think practically,” he said. The alternative he suggested was that all the parties that are ready to oppose the BJP at the state- level should join hands to reduce the saffron party’s influence in those regions.

Vijayan said that till now, state-level alliances were being formed to oppose the BJP, and they were successful to some extent; therefore, he was of the view that the same strategy should be adopted across the country.

”If we do that, we can deal a major blow to the BJP and defeat them,” he said. ”What needs to be seen is whether the Congress is ready to take such a broad view,” Vijayan added. His statement comes days after the Opposition parties, including the Congress, TMC, BRS and Samajwadi Party, came together in New Delhi in a show of unity and accused the Modi government of getting the second half of the budget session of Parliament washed out, while asserting that if this attitude continues, the country will move towards a ”dictatorship”.

With tricolour in hand, several Opposition MPs marched from Parliament to Vijay Chowk, and then representatives of 19 parties had held a press conference on April 6 at the Constitution Club where Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and other leaders resolved to take the Opposition unity further.

In a boost to Opposition unity, the Trinamool Congress, Bharat Rashtra Samithi, Aam Aadmi Party and Samajwadi Party, which had been blowing hot and cold on sharing stage with the Congress on earlier occasions, had participated in the march and the presser to give a joint call against the government on issues such as the Adani matter, price rise and alleged attack on democracy.

Source: Press Trust of India