Forget BJP winning Lok Sabha polls, under united opposition Narendra Modi may lose Varanasi in 2019: Rahul Gandhi

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Bengaluru: Pegging his confidence on opposition unity, Congress president Rahul Gandhi asserted on Sunday that not only will BJP lose the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi might lose his Varanasi seat if his party, the Samajwadi Party and the BSP were united against him.

He also predicted for the current ruling dispensation, a "collapse" not "seen in many years." "Frankly, I don't see the BJP winning the next election, so in 2019 we will go back to the normal, I sense," he said in reply to a question on "Dalit anger."

"There are two basic things, once opposition unity goes above a certain level, it becomes impossible to win elections. Now the opposition unity has gone to a point. It's simple," Rahul said at an informal media interaction during the sixth leg of campaigning as part of the 'Janashirvada Yatra' ahead of the May 12 Assembly elections in Karnataka.

Pointing at the opposition unity efforts in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and by the DMK, the Trinamool Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party in Tamil Nadu, he asked, "Where are they (BJP) going to win seats? And in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Punjab. We will take it over,"  PTI reported.

When asked about forging of opposition unity amid varied aspirations of each party and their leaders, Rahul expressed confidence of overcoming it. "We will manage it. We in the Congress know how to carry people, we are not egotistical people, we don't crush people and we don't destroy people's lives, so we will manage it. The basic thing is how to get the country out of the mess that Mr Modi and RSS has put it in," he said.

The Congress president also ruled out the emergence of any 'third front'.

Terming as "funny" the BJP's confidence of breaking the opposition alliance in UP and claiming that he understands the politics of the state, Rahul said when the three parties will come together "BJP will win only two seats, that too with luck." He said even PM Modi may lose if he stands from Varanasi and if the three parties (Congress, SP, BSP) are united against him.

"In fact, I challenge him to stand with three parties united," Rahul added.

The BSP and the SP jointly fought Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha seats during the recent bypolls, costing the BJP both the seats, vacated respectively by UP CM Yogi Adiytanath and deputy CM Keasav Prasad Maurya.

(With PTI inputs)