Amid threats of splits in the INDIA bloc from several corners, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Saturday said that no one is going to have a “one-size-fits-all” solution and added that the Congress wants to see all its alliance partners getting along well.
Tharoor was speaking to the media while on a one-day visit to Kolkata on behalf of Congress party’s manifesto committee to listen to the opinion of the public in general.
The remark from the senior Congress leader came in the backdrop of a widening gap between the alliance partners of the INDIA bloc with the Trinamool Congress, Aam Aadmi Party and Janata Dal (United) threatening to leave the alliance.
Tharoor said, “Let me stress that this whole alliance is being discussed and that all the seat-sharing is being discussed on a state-by-state basis. No one is going to have a one-size-fits-all solution.”
Elaborating further, the Congress MP said the alliance equation will be different in each state. “I come from Kerala where the CPI(M) and the Congress are not going to agree and there’s not been a beginning of a discussion on it. But next door, in Tamil Nadu, we have a CPIM, CPI, Congress and DMK alliance which is in very good shape. So, in each state, the story will be different,” Tharoor said.
There are strong indications that Bihar Chief Minister and JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar may do yet another volte-face and return to the BJP-led NDA. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has also announced that they would go alone in Haryana and Punjab in the Lok Sabha polls.
Meanwhile, West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee has already announced that her party will fight the Lok Sabha election “alone” in the state.
Reacting to such reports, Tharoor said, “Please understand that we are not going to get one simple answer every time. We are all focused on the imperative need to change the Union government. That’s the ultimate objective of all of us.”