Beni rules out Congress-BSP alliance

Amid speculation over a possible tie-up between Congress and BSP for the 2014 general polls, Union Minister and Congress leader Beni Prasad Verma today ruled out any such alliance, claiming that his party would alone win 50 out of 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh.

"There would be no alliance between Congress and BSP... not till I am around," Verma told reporters here.

"Our party would alone win 50 seats in Uttar Pradesh... people are underestimating us," Verma said, claiming that the party has emerged as the top choice for Muslims.

A certain section of the media have reported that Congress and Bahujan Samaj Party might come into an alliance in Uttar Pradesh for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

To a question, he said he would like to contest from his sitting Gonda seat as well as from his previous Kaiserganj seat in the coming Lok Sabha elections.

"If Rahul Gandhi allows me, I also want to contest from Kaiserganj seat where there had been no development in the past few years for which I feel bad," he said, adding that he did not want to leave his sitting Gonda seat either.

On the state government declaring Chaudhary Charan Singh's birth anniversary as a holiday, Verma said that though the late prime minister was an idol for both him and his "brother" Mulayam Singh, he felt that a holiday would hamper government work and will be a disadvantage.