Congress open to Left-alliance: Rahul

Appearing to keep ajar option of Congress having a post-poll tie-up with the Left parties, Rahul Gandhi today said doors of the party were "open for anyone willing to join us".      

"I am nobody to say whether the doors are open or closed. That is for the party president and Prime Minister to decide. But as a general principle, I can say that doors of Congress are open for anyone willing to join us," he said at a press conference here.      

Gandhi was asked whether the Congress was open to the idea of taking the Left support if required after the elections.      

Gandhi, who accused the Left Front government in West Bengal of poor implementation of the Centre's flagship National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme, said his views on this will not change even if "the Left joins us" after the elections.      

He said he was shocked to see that the benefits of the pro-poor scheme were not reaching the people in districts like Purulia.      Gandhi said his perception was that Uttar Pradesh and Bihar were the worst states in the implementation of such programmes but "I was shocked by what I saw in West Bengal."      

"I am not attacking the Left. What I am pointing out is that a tremendous amount of wastage is taking place in the state" where the government is not caring for the poor.