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There cannot be a strong Opposition without Congress: Tariq Anwar on BRS meet

He said the Congress' idea is that all Opposition parties come together and the party keeps trying for that.

Published Jan 20, 2023 | 4:46 PM ⚊UpdatedJan 20, 2023 | 4:46 PM

Tariq Anwar speaking at an event in Hyderabad. (itariqanwar/Twitter)

AICC general secretary Tariq Anwar on Friday, 20 January, said there couldn’t be a strong opposition to fight the BJP without the Congress, referring to a recent meeting held by Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) in Khammam in Telangana.

Presided by BRS president and Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, the meeting was attended by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, his Kerala counterpart Pinarayi Vijayan, CPI general secretary D Raja and Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav.

“Two or three chief ministers who came to the Khammam meeting… Without Congress, there cannot be a strong Opposition, because Congress is a national party. It is present in every state. Under these circumstances if anybody tries to form a group separately, I understand that it weakens the Opposition,” Anwar said at a press conference.

He said the Congress’ idea was that all Opposition parties come together and the party keeps trying for that.

However, there are some parties that, despite being in the Opposition, keep trying to support the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre.

Anwar alleged that Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM was working as a “B Team” of the BJP at the national level, and the task of Kejriwal and Owaisi was to divide the secular vote in North India.

Related: CMs of Kerala, Delhi, and Punjab slam the Centre at the BRS meet

‘KCR aims to destroy Congress’

“KCR’s political aim for the past eight years is to weaken the Congress party. It was said that in the north this work was given to Kejriwal and in the south, it was given to KCR. Their mandate is to ensure that Opposition parties never unite,” he charged.

Replying to a query, the Congress leader said there were several instances of a third front in the country and there can be only one anti-BJP front.

Taking a dig at KCR, he said when the Congress handed over the government to the present regime in 2014, there was a ₹10,000 crore revenue surplus, but the country has since plunged into ₹5 lakh crore debt.

According to him, the Congress sacrificed a lot to make Telangana a separate state, though many people were not happy with the decision.

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