'Cong was narrow-minded, thought it could win alone'

The Congress committed a "big mistake" by not forging an alliance with regional parties for the assembly elections in five states, Kerala chief minister and CPI(M) leader Pinarayi Vijayan has said. In an interview with Vishnu Varma, Vijayan also said that the Centre must ask the state's governor, Arif Mohammed Khan, to refrain from indulging in activities that may create a conflict in Kerala. Edited excerpts:

- Vishnu Varma

INTERVIEW - PINARAYI VIJAYAN, KERALA CM

Will the results of the assembly polls in five states have a direct effect on the Lok Sabha polls, especially with the Congress losing three critical states?

Be it in Rajasthan or Madhya Pradesh, the biggest mistake of the Congress is that it did not try to forge unity with other secular parties. Instead of cooperating, it was under the false impression that it can win on its own. In today's circumstances, it was not right. We have to stand united to defeat the BJP. The Congress had a narrow-minded approach that it could win alone. It was not right to keep away the Samajwadi Party (SP) in Madhya Pradesh. Kamal Nath reportedly did not accept [the alliance with] SP. The top Congress leadership also did nothing to intervene in the issue. If SP and other like-minded parties were included, the result in MP would have been different.