Will form alliance with like-minded parties for LS polls: Congress

Kolkata: Senior Congress leader Priyanka Chaturvedi on Friday said the party would forge an alliance with like-minded parties for the 2019 general elections and would return to power.

The Congress, however, would not compromise on the ideology and values of the party, Chaturvedi said.

"We are not compelled to compromise on our ideology and values just for the sake of stitching up alliances. We will be reaching out to all political opposition parties and alliance will be formed on the basis of our and their understanding of the situation," said Chaturvedi, a national spokesperson of the party.

Asked whether the Congress's proposed opposition alliance would include the Trinamool Congress too, she said it would include all political parties that believe in basic ethos and idea of our country and do not believe in dividing people of religious and caste lines.

On NCP president Sharad Pawar's comment on Rafale scam, she said Pawar has not given a clean chit to anybody.

"Sharad Pawar has gone on record saying he was misquoted, misrepresented and asked specific questions to the government. He has not at all given any clean chit to the Modi government," she said.

In an interview with a Marathi news channel earlier this week, Pawar said he didn't think that people have doubts about Modi's intentions in the Rafale deal.

Later, the NCP clarified that Pawar had not given any clean chit to Modi on the Rafale issue, and reiterated its demands that the central government disclose the price of the fighter jets and order a JPC probe.