Congress rules out dismissal of UP government

NEW DELHI, May 13 : In an apparent attempt to reach out to parties, Congress today ruled out dismissing Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh, a demand set by SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav for his party's support for government formation at the Centre.

"There is no question of dismissing a duly elected state government," AICC General Secretary Digvijay Singh told reporters here when asked whether Congress party was in favour of dismissing the Mayawati government in UP.

"How is it possible? It is not constitutionally possible," he said in reply to further questions on the issue.

Asked whether BSP is communal, he said the Congress considered only BJP and Shiv Sena as communal parties.

To a question whether Mayawati is an option for Congress, Singh merely said "I have always said politics is the art of possible." On former Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumarswamy meeting Congress chief Sonia Gandhi last night, he said, "it is an indication of the direction in which the political wind is blowing." Questioned about Congress efforts to reach out to allies, he said "we are firmly aligned with our UPA allies" and all talk of future alliances would take place after May 16 when the election results are declared.

Singh claimed that the Congress party would emerge as the single largest party after the polls and perform better than it did in the 2004 elections
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NDA virtually non-existent: Congress

New Delhi, Mar 12 : With BJP losing BJD as an ally in Orissa, Congress today gloated over the plight of its principal challenger alleging NDA was “virtually non-existent” and there was “no serious challenge” to UPA in Lok Sabha polls.


The AICC also dismissed suggestions that the Third Front could pose challenge to it after CPI(M) rushed to rope in BJD for the proposed alliance of non-Congress and non-BJP parties.

“There is no serious challenge…We have every reason to be confident that the battle has already been won even before the elections have begun and the candidates have filed their nominations,” party spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan told reporters here.

Comparing UPA and NDA, she said while the allies have remained and continue to remain with Congress, the BJP-led combine started cracking up as soon as they sat in the opposition with parties like Telugu Desam and others leaving it.

“NDA formation has virtually become non-existent,” Natarajan said, adding “UPA formation stands before the people with a very strong performance record. It is absolutely clear that UPA will be in government again after the 2009 poll results have been declared.”

Asked about the political situation in Orissa following the parting of ways of BJP and the BJD and whether Congress would ally with the Naveen Patnaik-led party, she said it was “hypothetical”.

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Congress not projecting Manmohan as PM candidate: BJP

New Delhi, Mar 8 : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Saturday made light of the Congress stance that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will again head the government if it wins the Lok Sabha election, saying the Congress campaign did not reflect this.

“If Manmohan Singh is their prime ministerial candidate, the Congress hoardings do not reflect this,” BJP spokesperson Ravi Shanker Prasad told reporters here, even as he spoke about L.K. Advani, his party’s candidate for the top job.

“In the Congress, the prime minister is someone but the real power (lies) somewhere else. There is one who is de jure, there is one de facto.”

Prasad said the BJP was projecting Advani as a “kushal neta” (competent leader) and “a strong leader”.

He added: “Our campaign would revolve around the personality of Advani, the performance of the NDA (National Democratic Alliance led by BJP) and the utter failure of the Congress-led government on all fronts.”

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NCP should come clean on stance over PM's post: Congress

Aurangabad, Mar 7 : It is not only the BJP that is insisting that its ally of over two decades, Shiv Sena, come clean on whom it plans to support for Prime Ministership; Congress is also demanding the same of ruling ally NCP.

"NCP should clarify whom it supports as Prime Ministerial candidate as voters would be confused if the alliance partners face the polls with two different PM candidates," a senior Congress leader said in Aurangabad on Saturday.

"NCP is projecting its chief Sharad Pawar as Prime Ministerial candidate. If it is serious on alliance with Congress, it should clarify its stance on this issue immediately," he said.

Meanwhile, MPCC president Manikrao Thakre told reporters that his party was in favour of following the 2004 elections seat-sharing formula with NCP. "Why should we concede extra seats to NCP," he added.

"The formula that Congress should contest 25 and leave remaining 23 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra is not acceptable to us," he said. In the 2004 polls, Congress contested 27 seats and NCP 21 seats.

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