Amit Shah ridicules grand alliance

Mumbai: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national president Amit Shah and Union minister for shipping Nitin Gadkari have both ridiculed the idea of a Congress-led Mahaga-thbandhan (grand alliance) for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. While Mr Shah termed the mega-alliance confusion and said it would not help its constituents, Mr Gadkari called it an alliance of weak parties.

Speaking at an event in Mumbai, the BJP president said the reality of the Mahagathbandhan was different from what was being portrayed. “They don’t exist if you picture the entire country. If Deve Gowdaji has a rally in Maharashtra, Mamataji campaigns in Gujarat and Chandra-babu Naidu campaigns in MP will it affect anyone? They are regional leaders. They will contest in their regions. They are not in a position to help each other,” he said.

Responding on the possibility of a coalition of Opposition parties ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, Mr Gadkari said that the term Mahagathbandhan is synonymous with an alliance of the weak.

“There are two characteristics of Mahagha-tbandhans: first, people who are weak form Ma-hagathbandhans. Seco-ndly, they now know that they are in trouble and have no power to fight. That’s why they decided to unite,” said the Union minister.

During an elaborative discussion on BJP-Shiv Sena alliance, Mr Gadkari used a Marathi proverb to explain the equation between the two parties in the state of Maharashtra.

“Have you heard of the Marathi proverb ‘Tuj-ha majha jamena.. tujhya vachun karmena?’ It means ‘Can’t live with you, can’t live without you’. The Sena-BJP alliance was laid on the basis of Hindutva. Even now, there is no conflict between the two parties on the basis of Hindutva. I feel that for the benefit of the nation and Maharashtra and its citizens, the BJP and Shiv Sena should come together. We are trying to form an alliance and I feel that it will take place,” said Mr Gadkari.

Commenting on a tweet by Chirag Paswan of the Lok Janshakti Party on differences between the NDA ally and the BJP over seat allotment, Mr Shah said, “Every party wants to grow. They pitch for their leader. Such things are common ahead of every elections”. Mr Paswan had tweeted that the

NDA was at a crossroads after the Telugu Desam Party and Rashtriya Lok Samta Party quit the alliance.

Mr Shah said the BJP had 25 allies before the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. “Today, we have 31 partners among which six are bigger ones,” he said.

Mr Shah also described the BJP as the NDA’s “nucleus”.