Congress seeks alliance with Ajit Singh

Lucknow: The Congress general secretary and the man in charge of party affairs in Uttar Pradesh Digvijay Singh sprang a surprise when he disclosed that the door was still open for Ajit Singh if he wanted to forge an alliance with the Congress in the Lok Sabha elections.

Digvijay Singh was addressing a press conference here yesterday after a two-day meeting of the newly constituted committee of the state Congress.

Demands

He has indicated that his party may forge an alliance if Ajit Singh, president of the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), mends his behaviour and behaves like a serious political leader.

The RLD chief had opposed the confidence motion moved by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the Lok Sabha. But Ajit Singh and his party were shocked as the Bahujan Samaj Party chief and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati announced at the national convention in Lucknow that the BSP will go it alone in the Lok Sabha elections.

Elaborating on the reasons for seeking an alliance with the RLD, Digvijay Singh pointed out that the Congress was ready to make an alliance with any secular party to keep the communal forces out of power, whether it was the RLD or Mufti Mohammad Saeed's People's Democratic Party.

When asked to comment on the prevailing confusion over the issue of a tie-up with the Samajwadi Party headed by Mulayam Singh Yadav, the Congress leader said there was no confusion on this issue but answering this question was beyond his capacity.