Congress says alliances need to be formed on state-to-state basis

The Congress today said alliances need to be sewed up on a state-to-state basis and there can be no 'one size fit all alliance' in the country.

Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the Congress will stich alliances with regional parties in different states as one tie-up cannot be transposed into another state.

"Alliances need to be sewed up state to state. There can be no 'one size fit all alliance'," he told reporters.

He was responding the the reported remarks of NCP chief Sharad Pawar that there was no 'Mahagathbandhan' (grand alliance) yet in place for the 2019 polls.

Surjewala said every state has regional parties and cited the example of the NCP which had an alliance in Maharashtra but the same cannot be replicated in another state.

"They have been in an alliance and talks are currently on to sew together the same alliance. But, an NCP-Congress alliance cannot be transposed into Gujarat or in Rajasthan or in Delhi...," he said.

The Congress leader said while RJD and Congress had an alliance and earlier the JD(U) was also part of it in Bihar.

Stating that the Congress and RJD may again fight the elections together in Bihar, he said the same alliance may not work in UP where there may be different coalition partners.

"So, Sharad Pawar ji is 100 per cent right. There is no one-size-fit-all solution. It has to be sewed up state to state," Surjewala said.

To another question on AIMIM Owaisi's statement that Muslims must vote for the Muslims, Surjewala said "Owaisi ji is nothing but B-team of the BJP. Owaisi Ji, as everybody knows, has been propped up by the BJP to create fissures in the society, as an extended agency of the BJP. So, less said about him, the better it is."