INDIA Bloc Is INDI Zero Alliance: Piyush Goyal

Indore (Madhya Pradesh): Union Minister Piyush Goyal on Sunday said National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) had begun disintegrating and had now turned into INDI zero alliance. Goyal referred to spat between Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and Madhya Pradesh Congress president Kamal Nath over seat sharing for Assembly polls and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's statement that Congress was more interested in polls than setting course for INDIA bloc.

"The opposition alliance has started integrating even before it is formed. The parties in it are pitted against each other in Assembly polls," Goyal said at a press conference during tour of poll-bound MP. "Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is sad about state of alliance. Aam Aadmi Party abuses Congress. In West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, the constituents of alliance are fighting," he claimed.

The INDIA alliance comprises more than 25 parties opposed to BJP. Dubbing MP Congress chief Kamal Nath and the party's senior leader and Rajya Sabha MP Digvijaya Singh as a "mismatched pair", Goyal claimed the two were at loggerheads and busy establishing their sons in politics. "Kamal Nath has lost credibility among masses and is left alone in Congress politics," Goyal claimed. On BJP not naming CM candidates, Goyal said, "We have blessings of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. We are all generals under him. It is the failure of Congress that it does not have any popular leader who can go to masses."

On rising onion prices, Goyal said the Centre had increased its buffer stock from 2clakh tons to 5 lakh tonnes and later added a consignment of 2 lakh tonnes while making additional purchases. "This is the first time since Independence that Central government is providing onions at Rs 25 per kg to retail consumers from its buffer stock. Due to this, onion prices have stabilised in many places," he said. PTI