New Delhi: As none of the major parties has received a full majority in the Lok Sabha elections with counting almost coming to an end, the Congress party will hold discussions with its allies as well as "new partners," party president Mallikarjun Kharge said on Tuesday.
He said that the "fight" is not over, and they will continue to work for people's rights and protection of the Constitution and democracy.
This comes after the BJP failed to cross the majority mark on its own. According to the Election Commission of India, BJP is currently ahead on 239 seats. But, the overall tally of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is close to 300.
Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, Kharge said, "I thank our INDIA bloc partners. Everyone campaigned for each other and worked. Our fight hasn't reached its conclusion, we have to keep fighting for people's rights, the protection of the Constitution and democracy, the nation's development and safety on the border."
"The coming days are going to be important and we will talk as soon as possible," he said.
On being asked about the meeting with INDIA bloc partners, Kharge said that Congress will hold talks with its alliance partners as well as "new partners" who are "going to ally" with them.
"Till we don't talk to our alliance partners and the new partners who are going to ally with them, we will talk to them as well and see how we can make a majority. If I talk about all the strategies here, Modiji will become clever," the Congress president said.
The Congress President lauded the party's campaign and said they continued to raise the issues of the people, despite the "government machinery" working against them.
He also said that Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra and Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra formed the foundation of the party's campaign.
"Congress and the INDIA bloc fought the elections positively, government machinery tried to create hurdles for us, our accounts were frozen, ran cases against our leaders. But, still, we continued to raise the issue of farmers, labourers, inflation, unemployment and misuse of central agencies. People in huge numbers joined us. Both the yatras of Rahul Gandhi became the foundation of our campaign. We gave our 5 Nyays and 25 Guarantees for our campaign," Kharge said.
"People realised that if PM Modi gets another term, the next attack will be on the Constitution and democracy of the country. It is fortunate that the BJP won't succeed in their purpose now," he added.
Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) crossed the majority mark in early leads and is ahead on around 300 seats, while the INDIA bloc, defying all predictions is leading on over 230 seats.
Most exit polls predicted a straight term for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with quite a few of them projecting a two-thirds majority for the ruling BJP-led NDA. (ANI)
