Opposition Alliance Will Throw No Ball on the Pitch of Lok Sabha Elections 2019, Says Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi

New Delhi, January 20: The much-touted grand alliance of opposition parties will lose the match either by hitting the wicket on its own or will throw a no-ball without a captain on the pitch of the coming General Elections, said Union Minister and senior BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Sunday.

"This alliance (of opposition parties) doesn't have a captain. It will hit the wicket on its own or throw a no ball on the pitch of coming Lok Sabha elections in 2019. They know very well know that they are competing against the captain (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) who has made India proud all over the world," Naqvi told ANI here. Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi Takes Dig at Manmohan Singh, Says 'PM Narendra Modi Doesn't Need Prompter, Script or Director.

"The opposition parties do not have any guidance or policy. They only want to remove Prime Minister Modi and sit on the chair. They all want to be the captain of their ship. They all are expired leaders and are expired items," added Naqvi. Echoing similar views, former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said, "Our leader Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the most popular face across the world."

"The Opposition's alliance has done full preparations, but they say that they will announce later who will be their Prime Ministerial candidate. They have just joined hands. Their hearts are still apart. This is an alliance of opportunist people." BJP's Anil Jain said: "This opportunist and unnatural alliance cannot beat Prime Minister Modi and our party chief Amit Shah. The country stands with Prime Minister Modi. It is tough to say that this alliance will make a way to the people's heart."

However, the Opposition parties have claimed that the people of India stand tall with them and have decided to go against the BJP in the coming General Elections. "There are multiple efforts going on in the country. There is a common understanding among the secular democratic political parties that it is imperative that all should work together and see that BJP is defeated in the interest of the country and its future," CPI leader D Raja told ANI.

"If the BJP is not defeated, the Constitution will be attacked. The progress of the nation will adversely be impacted. It is the need of the situation to defeat the BJP," added Raja. Congress' Pramod Tiwari said: "We have clearly said that our main motive is to defeat Prime Minister Modi in favour of the nation and after the General Election we will talk about our Prime Minister. Frustration can be seen on his face today."

Aam Aadmi Party's Raghav Chadha said: "Prime Minister Modi and Amit Shah are dangerous for this nation and democracy. It is, therefore, our responsibility to defeat them and save democracy." Top leaders of as many as 20 parties on Saturday joined Kolkata rally organised by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee where they stressed the need for working unitedly to defeat the BJP in the coming Lok Sabha elections.

Among those important leaders who attended the rally were Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief Chandrababu Naidu, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) president MK Stalin, National Conference supremo Farooq Abdullah and his son Omar Abdullah, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader Satish Misra, Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) chief Ajit Singh and his son Jayant Chowdhary.

Interestingly, former Union Finance Minister and BJP dissident Yashwant Sinha, Arun Shourie, Shatrughan Sinha, Patidar quota agitation leader Hardik Patel, former Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Gegong Apang, former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, and Gujarat independent MLA and Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani also attended the anti-BJP rally.