Congress no more a mainstream party, no party wants alliance with it: BJP

The BJP on Monday hit out at the Congress saying that it earlier used to be a mainstream party but now it has been reduced to a small player that no party is ready to align with for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. Addressing a press conference here, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said: "Congress was earlier a mainstream party but now it's been reduced to a small party."

"Now even its friends like Akhilesh Yadav (Samajwadi Party chief) and Mayawati (Bahujan Samaj Party chief) think that it is not fit for an alliance before elections. They have left only two seats for the Congress in Uttar Pradesh for the mother and the son (Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi)," he said. Javadekar's remarks came after he was asked about the proposed Mahagatbandhan by Opposition parties for the 2019 general elections.

To a question on whether the BJP will fight the 2019 elections with the Shiv Sena, the BJP leader said, "We are partners in the government, Shiv Sena is part of NDA." He said that in the 2014 elections the BJP and the Shiv Sena fought in alliance.