Jaitley calls 'Mahagathbandhan' a political circus, recipe for chaos

Taking a swipe at the grand alliance of opposition parties, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley Friday said the 'mahagathbandhan' is a 'non-bandhan', political circus and a recipe for chaos.

Several political parties, mostly traditional BJP opponents, have come together to take on the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the ensuing general elections beginning April 11.

In a blog post, Jaitley said that over the last several months, India was "exhausted" with the talk of a 'Mahagathbandhan'.

The rationale, he said, was that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP were very strong and could not be challenged by individual party.

Stressing that Indians judge politicians by their merit and capacity and no longer by any traditional loyalty, he said: "We were promised a 'coalition of rivals' because India had to be saved. We were promised a common minimum agenda. Each leader amongst the aspirant Prime Ministers wanted to become a 'sutradhar' (anchor) of the alliance. He/she would periodically organise shows in his/her State and invite the entire bandwagon."