Kamal Nath, senior Congress leader and president of Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee, is an ex-minister of urban development and is one of the longest-serving and senior most members of Lok Sabha. Kamal Nath, 71, is set to lead the party in the upcoming assembly election to be held in November-December. In an exclusive interview to CNN-News 18, the Congress leader has blamed Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati for ditching the grand alliance in Madhya Pradesh. He said BSP's exit won't impact their vote share and the Congress is still holding talks with Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Akhilesh Yadav ahead of the state elections. He also said that the Congress is open to any alliance and their sole objective is to defeat the BJP.

Edited Excerpts:

Why is that no other party is ready to do business with you or ally with the Congress Party?

I don’t accept that. We are in touch with SP, we are in touch with the Gondwana Ganatantra Party (GGP). I spoke GGP President just three hours ago, so I don’t think so.

But Akhilesh Yadav has said that he will be aligning with GGP, but not waiting for you anymore?

No, we have to look at things, not from the top. We have to look at it from the bottom where together we can defeat the BJP. We should not be talking in terms of numbers of seats. We should be talking on what is the arithmetic which helps us to defeat the BJP.

I don’t think anything is off at the moment.

Are you saying that there is a possibility of this kind of alliance?

Of course, it is and the BSP was a different story. They had a 6.3 percent vote share (in MP), they wanted 50 seats. We are six-odd percent in UP. Would the same proportion apply there? Some of the seats were just gifting it away to the BJP. That's why the alliance wasn't possible.

Congress has been accused of being arrogant and castist by Mayawati. She said that the Congress is out there to finish the BSP in Madhya Pradesh?

We don’t want to finish any party. We want to defeat the BJP and that is our objective, whoever wants to join hands, we are willing to walk the extra mile. But I am not willing to have an alliance which only helps the BJP.

Mayawati said senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh is an agent of the BJP and the RSS, what is your response?

I think it is humorous. Digvijaya Singh has spent his whole life taking on the BJP and the RSS. She only knows why she said like that.

First Published:Oct 8, 2018 6:55 PM IST