Speaking to PTI here, the former Union minister welcomed the proposed merger of Janata Parivar parties, saying it's good.
"They (Janata Parivar outfits) are also facing a type of crisis that the Congress is facing in many ways. Bihar is the next test for all of us. Delhi (elections earlier this year) destroyed (Narendra) Modi. And if the BJP is halted in Bihar, then Mr. Modi's goose is cooked," he said.
Asked if the Congress would have a "strategic partnership" with JDU, he noted that his party supported the Nitish Kumar government in Bihar.
"We have voted in no confidence motion (Jitan Ram Manjhi government). We have voted with Nitish Kumar," he said.
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On the way ahead for the beleaguered party which has suffered several electoral reverses, he said, "Congress' long- term objective is to win the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
"But before that we have our immediate objective in November 2015 to stop the BJP in Bihar. We will do all that we have to do to stop the BJP in Bihar... That would be a major impact on national politics as well."
"I am sad to see the fate of Left parties. I think the decline of the Left is not good. The Left has been a force for secular, progressive values. Its (Left parties') economic policy may not always have been up to date.
"Its economic policy may not always have been pragmatic although Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee (the then Chief Minister of West Bengal) was very much in tune with what Manmohan Singh's policy was," he said.
As an Indian, he said he feels very sad, observing that the day Left weakens, secularism weakens, progressive values weaken.