Uneasy Cong puts up brave face on talk of LJP allying with BJP

Uneasy over speculation of Ram Vilas Paswan reaching out to BJP, Congress today put up a brave face saying every attempt is being made to broaden the ambit of a "non-communal" coalition and indicated that the matter could be resolved very soon.
Party spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi, though, remained non-committal on whether Congress and TRS will go for an alliance or merger but stressed that be it Bihar or Andhra Pradesh, a "broadest alliance in national interest" will happen.
The party leader's remarks came on a day when Paswan's party dropped enough indications that it could rock UPA bandwagon if seat sharing was not finalised with Congress and RJD and TRS chief K Chandrasekhar Rao met Rahul Gandhi.

To repeated questions about leaders from LJP going soft on Narendra Modi and indicating a tie-up, Singhvi said, "I do not think any final conclusion has emerged yet on it. I will not react to it unless there is an announcement.
"Let me make it very clear that there is every attempt to make the broadest spectrum of effective, non-communal and public interest coalition... There is no question to react to speculation, intimation and advice," Singhvi said.
At the same time, he said "it requires two hands to clap and sometimes even more".

He also downplayed questions about split in the RJD legislature party in Bihar.

TRS chief Rao met Rahul Gandhi, a day after he held consultations with Congress President Sonia Gandhi following the passage of the Telangana bill in Parliament.
Congress expects to have alliances in states like Maharashtra, Kerala, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Bihar and Tamil Nadu.
A senior leader, who declined to be identified said that in Uttar Pradesh, there could be an understanding if not an alliance with BSP or SP in the changed situation.
The leader said that in Bihar while the effort will be to bring both RJD and LJP on board with Congress, the alliance with RJD alone cannot be ruled out if LJP crosses over to the other side.