‘No rift in INDIA bloc’: Rahul says seat-sharing talks being held in cordial manner

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday (January 16) dismissed reports of hiccups in the seat-sharing talks among INDIA alliance partners.

"Discussions are progressing well with all our partners. There may be a few minor issues, but they will be resolved because they are not complex in nature," the Congress leader said while replying to a question on difficulties the party is allegedly facing in its seat-sharing discussions with the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal.

Claiming that the INDIA alliance is an ideological partnership, Rahul said leaders of the alliance have mutual respect for one another and discussions (for seat sharing) are held in a very cordial manner.

‘Ram temple consecration a RSS-BJP event’

On Congress' decision to skip the inauguration of the Ram temple in Ayodhya on January 22, he said the "event has been turned into an RSS-BJP function centred around Narendra Modi with an eye on elections and the Congress has a problem with that."

Even biggest authorities of Hindu religion described it as a political event, Rahul said referring to reservations expressed by the four Shankaracharyas on the consecration ceremony.

He, however, promptly added that the Congress will have no objection if someone from the party wants to attend it.

"The Congress is open to all religious faiths.... For us religion is something that one should inculcate in personal life... It is not for public show. I try to lead my life as per the principles of my religion. So, I try to talk humbly with the people; try not to be arrogant and I don't spread hate.... I don't need to wear my religion on my sleeve."

Rahul was speaking to media on the third day of his 66-day long Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra near Kohima in Nagaland.

Meet with Naga HOHO

During the course of his journey, he has been interacting, apart from common people on the streets, with a cross section of people and civil society representatives in his bus and makeshift camps in containers to get "feedback."

"The first step towards establishing injustice is to understand the true nature of the injustice," he added explaining the purpose of his interactions.

On Monday night he met a delegation of the Naga HOHO, the apex body of the Naga tribes.

The Naga HOHO raised the issue of delay in ironing out a solution to the Naga insurgency. To find a solution the Centre is in talks with the NSCN-IM for 25 years.

"We are not even clear what the PM envisioned for a solution. There is no clarity on the agreement (Framework Agreement signed with the NSCN-IM) in 2015.