'Not necessary that alliance has the same opinion': Akhilesh on Stalin's pitch for Rahul as PM

Lucknow, Dec 18: The Samajwadi Party chief on Tuesday distanced itself from DMK president MK Stalin's proposal of projecting Congress chief Rahul Gandhi as the prime ministerial candidate of the United Opposition, saying that it is not necessary that alliance has the same opinion.

"People are unhappy with BJP. Telangana chief miniser, Mamataji and Sharad Pawarji had attempted to bring together all leaders to form an alliance. If someone is giving his opinion, (it) isn't necessary that alliance has the same opinion," ANI quoted Yadav as saying.

Stalin had on Sunday made a strong pitch for the Congress chief as the prime ministerial candidate of the Opposition, saying the Gandhi scion had the ability to defeat the "fascist" Narendra Modi government.

He made the announcement in the presence of national opposition leaders including Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. Stalin had said that Congress president Rahul Gandhi should be the prime ministerial candidate for Lok Sabha elections 2019. "Rahul has got the ability to defeat fascist Modi government. Let's strengthen Rahul Gandhi's hands, let's save the country," had said Stalin.

The DMK chief had also urged all political parties to join forces and support Gandhi to defeat the Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party government.

Notably, Stalin's proposal came at a time when the Congress has been making attempts to stitch a grand alliance (mahagathbandhan) with anti-BJP opposition parties in its bid to dethrone the NDA government at the Centre.

The saffron party had suffered a major electoral setback in the recently held assembly elections. The Congress emerged victorious in three Hindi belt states-Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan-which was ruled by the BJP.