Excluding Cong from UP alliance or making it look like 'dwarf' will be 'myopic': Khurshid

Senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid today cautioned opposition parties such as the SP and BSP against excluding the Congress from the alliance in Uttar Pradesh for the 2019 polls or making the party look like a "dwarf" in the state, saying such a move will be "myopic" and benefit the BJP.

He also said Congress chief Rahul Gandhi has given the message that "lets not get caught up" with the issue of opposition's prime ministerial candidate for now, as "collectively" winning the general election was the main focus.

In an interview to PTI, Khurshid said that this was "strategically" the best thing the Congress could have done to ensure that the BJP is not successful in creating gaps between the opposition parties as they work towards an alliance.

Khurshid, who has been Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee chief twice, asserted that parties should not write off the Congress in the state and it was important that it is part of an alliance with the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) to take on the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) in the 2019 polls.

Asked about talk of Congress being given very few seats in Uttar Pradesh or excluded from the grand alliance, Khurshid said, "I would think it will be very myopic. I am not saying it because we stand to gain from the opposite view, but I think excluding the Congress or making Congress look (like a) dwarf in UP will be myopic."
On Congress indicating that the issue of the opposition's prime ministerial candidate will be decided after the outcome of the 2019 polls, he said, "The party's choice is explicit, it is transparent in his (Rahul Gandhi's) favour, but he has himself taken the lead in saying that lets not get embroiled and caught up in this futile argument just now, lets first collectively win this election (and then) we will sit down and talk."