'BJP can't decide arbitrarily on 2019 poll schedule'

Amid the buzz over whether the Narendra Modi-led government would advance the Lok Sabha polls, senior Congress leader M Veerappa Moily today said the BJP and the Prime Minister cannot decide on such a "constitutional issue" arbitrarily for "political expediency".

He also called on the Opposition to unite for taking on the BJP in the next general elections.

It is for all political parties to decide on whether or not to advance the polls, according to the former Union Minister, who said it cannot be taken arbitrarily by the Prime Minister or by one party (BJP).

"It's a very important constitutional issue which cannot be decided arbitrarily by one political party just as a window of opportunity. The idea is that decision will have to be taken objectively and transparently; it cannot be taken just to suit one individual namely the present PM", Moily told PTI.

The former Karnataka Chief Minister claimed that the BJP is mulling advancing the polls for "political expediency", keeping in mind the Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Mizoram, due later this year -- and not to serve the country's interests and the Constitution. "There is a fear in the mind of Narendra Modi that they (BJP) will lose all the four States, or at least three.

With that apprehension and fear psychology, they are thinking on these lines (advancing polls)", Moily alleged. He also said there should be unity among opposition parties if they are really and genuinely interested in defeating the "communal forces like the BJP" and what he called "dictatorial rule of one person in the country".

"We (opposition parties) will have to oppose together. If that happens, then BJP has no place in Lok Sabha", he said. "The time has come for all anti-BJP forces to unite. Otherwise, Narendra Modi...BJP...they are a threat to the Opposition, threat to secular parties, secular principles. In view of that, they (opposition parties) have to unite", Moily added.