Raj Babbar still hopeful of a grand alliance in UP

Lucknow: UPCC president Raj Babbar has said that he is hopeful of a grand alliance materialising in UP for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

The UPCC chief said that the BSP alliance with the Janata Congress in Chhattisgarh was for a state election, while the larger alliance would be for a national election.

“It is the people who want all Opposition parties to come together in 2019. This time, the pressure for the alliance is from the grassroots level and not from the leaders and it is this that will work as an adhesive for parties,” he said while talking to reporters.

Mr Babbar said that the 2019 Lok Sabha polls would mainly be contested against two forces, two ideologies and not two parties.

“One is the ideology of Gandhi on which the Congress runs and the other is the RSS ideology which is still searching for an identity. The BJP has a majority government but Hindus and Muslims are being repe-atedly made to realise their differences. The BJP may have decimated other parties in the 2014 elections but they can never destroy the Gand-hian ideology which the Congress follows,” he said. Referring to the BSP’s recent criticism of the Congress on the increase in prices of petroleum products, he said that the BSP can have an opinion as a political party.