2019 Lok Sabha polls: Congress to stop overinvesting in 'mahagatbandhan'

Party waiting for poll schedule after which mahagatbandhan will take shape

While some Opposition leaders have taken to describe it as the usual Congress resistance in ceding space to smaller parties, the Congress has had a rethink about over-investing in shaping a mahagatbandhan, or grand alliance, to take on the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the forthcoming assembly polls, and even the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Recent developments have strengthened voices within the Congress of those arguing that the party return to its mantra of ‘ekla chalo re’, or walk alone if others don’t heed your call. Senior Congress leaders say Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar’s “clean