The Congress today said it would work out different strategies with parties in states to ensure that there is no division of anti-BJP votes in the next general elections.
Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said while there will not be any blanket approach in working out alliances or seat adjustments in various states, the basic object would be to ensure consolidation of anti-BJP votes.
He, however, remained non-committal on putting up a joint opposition candidate against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Varanasi, saying it is "too early" and it was up to political parties to decide.
Singhvi agreed "to the spirit" behind the suggestion given by former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav who suggested putting up a joint candidate against the prime minister.
"The object will be everywhere, whether bipolar states or triangular and quadrangular states, to prevent vote division of the anti-BJP vote. This is what the BJP is terrified about," he told reporters.
"There is no 'one-size-fits-all-approach', There is no blanket approach at all. The basic object remains the same whether it is this part or that part of the country and it is whether you call it formal alliance or you call it 'strategic seat adjustments' or you call it 'understandings'," he said on the issue of working out strategies with regional and other opposition parties.
Singhvi said various elections -- from Uttar Pradesh to Karnataka -- show how the BJP benefits from vote division and the Congress intends to counter it.
"But how we will do it, what we will do, you will find on a state to state basis and you will find that state 'X' may well differ from state 'Y'. But you can rest assured that it will be achieving that one single object of prevention of vote division," he told reporters.
The comments come a day after the results of Lok Sabha and Assembly bypolls across the country that saw the BJP losing out to the joint opposition candidate in many seats, including the Kairana Lok Sabha constituency and Noorpur Assembly seat in Uttar Pradesh.
While the RLD's joint candidate won in Kairana, the joint SP candidate won the Noorpur seat, defeating the BJP candidates.
Joint opposition candidates have also snatched from the BJP Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha constituencies during bypolls held recently. The seats were earlier represented by chief minister Yogi Adiyanath and deputy chief minister Keshav Chandra Maurya.
The Congress and other political parties are working out with various opposition parties to contest the next Lok Sabha elections as a joint opposition to defeat the BJP and keep it out of power.
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