Congress ready to sacrifice to any extent to defeat BJP in the LS polls

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Congress president Raj Babbar on Thursday admitted that the party is ready to sacrifice to any extent to defeat the BJP in the coming Lok Sabha elections in the state.

  "We have done it in Karnataka and prevented BJP from coming to power with going two steps behind. In the Lok Sabha elections too we can go to any extent for an opposition unity to defeat the BJP," he said.

  Addressing a press conference along with party's national spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi and national media coordinator Rohan Gupta,  Babbar said though the party's experience in the 2017 assembly polls were not good after forging alliance with the Samajwadi Party but still Congress will do anything to defeat the BJP.

  Though admitting that party high command would decide on the mahagathbandan in UP during the LS polls, Babbar said ,"it is up to the party leadership to decide on the alliance and the number of seats to be contested."

He said Congress had already shown it's intention in the Kairana Lok Sabha bypolls where even after party's hug support base not candidate was given against the opposition candidate which led to the defeat of the BJP.

  "In Gorakhpur and Phulpur LS bypolls though Congress contested but when it saw that SP was in direct fight against BJP, our candidates lowered their campaign for easy run for the opposition candidate," he said.

However, Babbar did not give any answers to the queries seeking his comment on the SP-BSP leadership not ready for taking Congress in the UP Mahagathbandan and had hinted to give only Rae Bareli and Amethi seats to them.

Meanwhile, Priyanka Chaturvedi alleged that the Yogi Adityanath government in UP on the directions of the Centre was trying to  dilute the Land Acquisition Act,  made by the UPA government.

"The announcement of the UP government to provide government land to the industrialist just on circle rate shows the conspiracy of the BJP to benefit their industrialist friends," she said.

Announcing that Congress will launch an agitation against such move, Ms Chaturvedi said Narendra Modi and the BJP governments in the states are working against the interest of the farmers and poor.

Reacting on the Narendra Modi's comment on opposition at Sant Kabir Mahanirvana sthal  Maghar in UP on Thursday, she said PM was just trying to cover up his failures by blaming the opposition.(UNI)