BJP ridicules Cong move to forge alliance

Congress chief Sonia Gandhi's move to forge a coalition of secular parties without foisting her leadership has evoked sharp reaction from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which described her statement an admission of defeat without contesting the Lok Sabha elections.

BJP chief M Venkaiah Naidu said in Chennai today Gandhi's statement reflected the frustration in her party after the BJP's spectacular performance in the Assembly elections in Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.

"They felt shy to name their leader as the Congress has lost confidence and credibility," he claimed.

Naidu said the Congress chief's statement also showed the inadequacy of Gandhi to lead the country after the election. In Naidu's view, Gandhi had accepted that she could not lead the country.

In the same vein, BJP spokesman Prakash Javdekar said Gandhi's dream of forging a coalition to offer an alternative to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) would never be realised.

"Atal Bihari Vajpayee will continue to be the Prime Minister in the next elections," Javdekar said, ruling out the possibility of the Congress forging a coalition after Gandhi's statement.

However, Gandhi's statement in Mumbai is being seen as a response to a political formulation by the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), which expressed its willingness to forge a coalition of secular forces with the Congress if the leadership issue be left open.

The NCP formula suggested that the party would have no objections to Gandhi being elected its leader if the Congress bagged more than 150 seats in the Lok Sabha elections.

The implicit message was that the NCP would for an alliance with the BJP if the Congress remained stuck to its guns and insisted on foisting Gandhi as the leader of secular coalition.

With Gandhi having clarified the confusion, the NCP might find coalition with the Congress an acceptable proposition, NCP sources said.

However, Pawar will take a final view shortly. Gandhi's message is similarly addressed to Mulayam Singh Yadav's Samajwadi Party, which is averse to accepting her leadership of the secular coalition.