Backing Nitish in vote not a prelude to future alliance: Cong

Congress today said that it backed Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in the trust vote to thwart the design of communal forces but refused to term the move as a 'prelude to any future alliance'.

Talking to reporters, party spokesman P C Chacko said, 'We have supported the Nitish Kumar government in view of the BJP's desire to pull it down ... To thwart the communal forces... It is not a prelude to a future alliance.'

Replying to a volley of questions on Congress support to the Nitish government and whether it meant the JD-U would reciprocate it at the Centre, he said, 'This is without any condition... We do not expect anything in return. There is no quid pro quo. There is no deal.'

He said that the party high command would decide the issue of alliance with the JD-U at an appropriate time. "I am not going to predict what is going to happen tomorrow."

To a query, Chacko said that no one on behalf of Nitish had approached Congress for the support and it was a "unilateral" action on the part of Congress.

He also indicated that the Congress' support was more to do with Nitish than his party.

'We endorse the Prime Minister's statement that Nitish Kumar is a secular person. Beyond that if you ask about JD-U, the party has not decided anything'.

'The party has not discussed about political alliances. We have not come to any conclusion about political alliances in any state'"

Asked whether the action would mean that Lalu Prasad's RJD, which had voted against the Nitish government was a "communal" party, Chacko said, "Every political party has its own right to take a decision" on whom to support and whom to oppose.

Chacko's statements today seemed that the Congress was seeking to do a balancing act in Bihar so as not to antagonise RJD, which has been with the UPA for last nine years first as a key constituent and then as an outside ally.