Kumaraswamy with Congress president Rahul Gandhi - File Pic
In further boost to the opposition unity, Congress and Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) on Friday decided to jointly contest 2019 Lok sabha polls.
Congress General Secretary K. C. Venugopal made the announcement in this regard in the presence of Karnataka chief minister H. D. Kumaraswamy.
"It has been decided that Congress and JD-S will fight the next Lok Sabha elections as pre-poll allies," Venugopal said.
Venugopal said the exact distribution of seats will be worked out later.
The announcement, coming a day after the joint opposition defeated the BJP in the Kairana Lok Sabha bypoll in Uttar Pradesh, is being seen as a step forward in efforts among opposition parties for one-to-one fight against the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Though Congress and JD-S fought the Karnataka assembly polls separately, they joined hands to form government following a split verdict in the state in which the BJP emerged as the single largest party.
West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee was among leaders who was in favour of Congress fighting the assembly polls with JD-S as an ally.
(With IANS inputs)
