'Grand Oppn alliance will only help consolidate BJP votes'

Deriding opposition efforts to weave together a united front in the run-up to the 2019 elections, Union Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu said today that three Cs - the corrupt, the casteist and the communal - were trying to come together. The grand alliance that the opposition was working towards would not succeed and only help consolidate BJP's position as the principal challenger in states like Kerala and West Bengal, he said.

"I wish the best of luck to all of them to come together and leave the space for us. In Bengal, I hope the Congress, the Communist party and TMC come together so that BJP can take on the remaining space. And in Kerela, the Congress and Left can come together and benefit us. This is like cooperation in Delhi, operation in Calcutta and separation in Kerala," Naidu told reporters on the sidelines of a function here.

Naidu, who holds multiple portfolios, including information and broadcasting and urban development, said all opposition parties were scared of Narendra Modi and were spreading a disinformation campaign to malign him. However, this would boomerang on them. "They are rattled by the steps of the PM against corruption and black money. Now, the three Cs are trying to come together - one corrupt, second casteist and the third communal," he said.

Citing previous attempts to form a national front against the BJP, the senior party leader said, "We have seen it in the past too. There is no principle, no common programme, no consensus on leadership. Rather being a national front, it became a notional front, united front became a divided front, third front became a distant third front."

"....so that being the case I don't think this effort of grand alliance will succeed," the BJP leader said.