MP POLLS: CONG MAY ALLY WITH SP TO COUNTER BJP

Natarajan quits party panel

The Congress Party on Thursday hinted that it is willing to forge an alliance with other "like-minded" parties to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the upcoming Madhya Pradesh assembly election.

Addressing the media here, senior Congress leader Kamal Nath said, "In the past, we had an alliance with the Samajwadi Party (SP) during Uttar Pradesh elections. We will talk to them (other parties) on possibilities of an alliance for Madhya Pradesh elections."

It may be recalled that the Congress and SP had formed a pre-poll alliance in a bid to prevent BJP from winning during the Uttar Pradesh assembly election last year.

However, the BJP won with a brute majority, capturing 325 seats in the 403-state assembly. The Congress and SP alliance won just 54 seats.

Explaining the reason for considering an anti-BJP coalition, Nath said, "In the 2014 election, BJP had received 31 percent of the votes polled and 69 percent of the votes were against him. Despite this, the BJP claims the public mandate was with them. We do not want the secular vote to be divided, so we will start discussions with parties soon."

Nath’s comments came after the swearing-in ceremony of newly elected Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy on Wednesday marked a rare occasion where opposition parties from all over the country set aside their differences to join hands in a show of might against the BJP-led Central government. Congress leader and former MP Meenakshi Natarajan has resigned from Madhya Pradesh Congress's manifesto committee, apparently peeved by the induction of her 'bete noire' Rajendra Singh Gautam into a party panel.

The development comes ahead of Congress president Rahul Gandhi's visit to Mandsaur district of the state on June 6 to mark the first anniversary of the death of six farmers in police firing.

State Congress chief Kamal Nath on Thursday sought to downplay the issue, saying he had spoken to Natarajan and a solution will be found.

Natarajan, former Mandsaur MP and a close confidante

of Congress president Rahul Gandhi, quit the party manifesto committee on Wednesday, sources close to her said.