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After merger with PPP, Congress hopes for grand alliance with BSP, Left in Punjab

Speed News Desk | Updated on: 14 February 2017, 5:17 IST

Hoping for a grand alliance on the lines of the one created in Bihar, the Congress Party is hoping to tie up with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Left parties even as it formally merged with the People's Party of Punjab (PPP) on Friday, reports the Hindustan Times.

Punjab Congress chief Captain Amarinder Singh, who is projected as the party's chief ministerial candidate for the 2017 assembly elections in Punjab, is apparently in touch with state leaders of the BSP, CPI(M) and the CPI in order to put up a united front against the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)-BJP combine.

"We are now looking for a broad-based alliance for the next election. We are trying to get all secular parties together against the fundamentalist force," Amarinder said.

In Jalandhar last week, Punjab BSP chief Avtar Singh Karimpuri had said that his party would accept Amarinder's offer if there was "a good proposal" from the Congress.

"We lost the 2012 election by a 0.8 per cent vote share," Amarinder said during the formal announcement of the PPP with the Congress. "The PPP had got a 5.04 per cent vote share. Had we been together, we could have saved Punjab."

PPP chief Manpreet Singh Badal said the Congress had accepted the 11-point agenda he had created before agreeing to a merger of the parties. The agenda included eliminating nepotism and favouritism in government functioning. Manpreet met Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on the merger issue on three occasions.

Manpreet said the PPP had also been approached for a merger by the Aam Aadmi Party, but he turned them down. "Congress platform is bigger, better and more experienced," he said.

First published: 16 January 2016, 9:51 IST