Congress does not want to play second fiddle to regional parties: Report

Delhi: Congress does not want to pay second fiddle to regional parties, as per a media report.

As per a report in Mail Today, Congress veterans have said that the grand old party must lead the front of their non-BJP allies for the 2019 General Assembly Elections.

"The Congress will fight the next Lok Sabha elections on its own. However, we may have an understanding with like-minded parties," Congress leader Satyavrat Chaturvedi was quoted as saying by the Daily.

On the other hand, another Congress leader Anil Shastri said, "Any such national level grouping, in which the Congress is not the lead player will be a nonstarter."

The report said that murmurs started within the Congress after party leader Digvijaya Singhmade remarked that the grand old party was open to fighting the 2019 elections with JD(U) to defeat the BJP.

The Daily quoted sources as saying that the Congress fully supported Nitish Kumar as CM candidate of the Congress-JD(U)-RJD alliance against the BJP-led NDA in Bihar and forged an understanding with the CPI-M to corner the TMC in West Bengal.

But there was no clarity if it would tie up with any a regional party in Uttar Pradesh, where Assembly elections are scheduled to be held in 2017.

"State level pacts are prudent but nationally the Congress has to play the anchor of a secular coalition," said Shastri, as per the report.