After Karnataka, Congress, BSP ally for MP, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh polls

New Delhi: After the successful experiment in Karnataka where it formed a pre-poll alliance with the Janata Dal (Secular), the Congress is now aligning with the Bahujan Samaj Party in three crucial upcoming Assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, which are being looked at as a kind of barometer for the 2019 general elections next year.

Sources said that top leaders of both parties were negotiating with each other and a seat-sharing pact was being worked out in the three poll-bound states with the Congress likely to cede as many as 30 seats to the BSP in MP in a deal that Congress state-president Kamal Nath was finalising with top BSP leaders.

Possibilities of a pre-poll tie up with the BSP came out in the open after a joint Opposition trounced the BJP in three successive bypolls in Uttar Pradesh in Gorakhpur, Phulpur and now, Kairana.

In Kairana, RLD candidate Tabassum Hasan defeated BJP's Mriganka Singh. Ms Hasan was supported by SP, BSP, Congress and Nishad Party. Similarly, in Noorpur bypolls, SP candidate Naim Ul-Haq won against BJP's Avnish Singh.

The Congress on Friday officially said that 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.

While there will not be any blanket approach in working out alliances or seat adjustments in various states, the basic objective would be to ensure consolidation of anti-BJP votes, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said. 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.

“The object will be that everywhere, whether in bipolar states or triangular and quadrangular states, we must prevent vote division of the anti-BJP vote. This is what the BJP is terrified about,” he said.