Congress, JD(S) stitch 2019 pact

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 1

The Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular) on Friday announced a pre-poll pact, setting the stage for a larger anti-BJP front ahead of the General Election 2019. That the Congress will take pre-election alliance possibilities beyond Karnataka is certain, given the political resolution the party adopted at its 84th AICC plenary session in Delhi recently.

The resolution read: “The Congress will adopt a pragmatic approach for cooperation with like-minded parties... to defeat the BJP-RSS in the 2019 elections.” 

Senior Congress leader KC Deo says alliances will be struck in states where regional parties are strong to prevent a division of secular votes.

In Karnataka, the BJP had won 17 out of 28 Lok Sabha seats in 2014 while the Congress and the JD(S) had won nine and two, respectively. However, the joint vote share of the Congress and JD(S) was 51.80 per cent — more than BJP’s 43 per cent. Plain arithmetic shows a pre-election arrangement can stop the BJP in the state. Congress sources indicate that the party will get a larger share of Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka in return for agreeing to leave plum portfolios for the JD(S) ahead of the June 6 Cabinet expansion.

Politically, the announcement of the Congress-JD(S) pre-poll pact will put pressure on BSP chief Mayawati to come along too, considering she fought alongside the JD(S) in the Karnataka elections.

The Congress has earlier had pre-poll arrangements with the RJD in Bihar and the NCP in Maharashtra. But the stage is set for a mass experimentation for 2019 with the Congress open to alliances in UP, Bihar and even West Bengal. It knows though that all pre-poll pacts won’t come easy.

In Bengal, state party chief Adhir Ranjan Choudhry has reservations on a tie-up with TMC. In Haryana, where the BSP and INLD have announced a pact for 2019, the Congress will have to tread cautiously. 

Cong on tie-ups: From 1998 to 2018

• At the 1998 Panchmarhi session, Congress decided against alliances and favoured electoral fights alone
• At 2003 Shimla session, it agreed to post-poll alliances to keep the communal forces at bay
• At 2018 AICC session, it kept pre-poll alliance options open to defeat BJP and RSS