Rahul Gandhi: Defeating BJP first priority of Opposition, leadership later

Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Friday said the 2019 Lok Sabha elections will be a straight contest between the BJP and the entire opposition and their first priority is to defeat the ruling allianceHe said the issue of leadership will be taken up by opposition parties after the polls In an interactive session at the London School of Economics here Gandhi also said that quality of debate in parliament was low quality as parliamentarians were not involved in making laws which were made by the prime minister ministers and bureaucratsGandhi who was asked questions about the next Lok Sabha elections said it will be pretty straightforward contest between Bharatiya Janata Party BJP on one side and the entire opposition on the other Gandhi said almost the entire Opposition feel that systematic attack was taking place on Indian institutionsWe are going to have a clearcut election he said adding that once the arithmetic of Opposition unity comes into play in states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar it becomes very difficult for the BJP to win He said the Opposition was working to defeat an onslaught on the Constitution and to defend the nature of Indian stateThe first priority is to defeat the BJP Once election is over all conversation can take place about the leadership Not till we defeat the BJP he said Apparently referring to parties such as Shiv Sena which are not likely to contest polls as partners of BJP Gandhi said the next election was an ideological battleWe will not work with somebody who is not ideologically with us he said I have tendency to reach out listen he said adding that it can help build coalitions Gandhi said he had over 15 years of experience in politics and has taken his share of shots to the chin Referring to the weaknesses of the Congress Gandhi said the party is not able to express the ideas very effectivelyThe BJP and RSS are very clear in what they are saying There is no confusion RSS spends time on an idea Congress needs to expand and be precise about what it stands for Gandhi also said a reason the party did not do well in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls was due to internal fight between the younger and older generationThere are senior leaders with experience and with understanding and there are youngsters who are developing You cannot break the past because there is a lot of value in some of the senior people So in a sense the present has to be a merger of the future and the past Thats really why Congress ran into trouble in 2014 Gandhi said he has tried to bring them together successfully He also said that the threat in the Congress is arroganceHe also said there was a fullblown job crisis in India but the government does not accept that Answering a query Gandhi said he viewed the government as an enabler India has tremendous amount of energy We have to put it together On dynastic politics Gandhi said he operates in a democracy and is attacked by the opponents and reacts to them The most important thing is what you bring on the table and how far you listenHe said there is need to make MPs more powerful in the process of making laws Why debate in parliament is of such low quality there is so much shouting You give lawmakers more power Quality of debate will improve he said Answering another query he said the single biggest instrument against corruption is RTI Referring to the power of dialogue he said the extent of power in conversation surprises meGandhi said that rather than a topdown approach he would prefer asking farmers about their problems and finding solutionsAlso Read Rahul Gandhi While Congress Binds People BJPRSS Divides ThemCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever