Nath hints at hitch in tieup

Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh Congress president Kamal Nath on Friday indicated that the ongoing talks to stitch an alliance with the BSP and SP by his party for the ensuing Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, slated for November this year, hit a roadblock.

He said his party was ready to go alone in the upcoming Assembly polls if the proposed alliance with the two parties did not take shape.

“We are prepared to go alone in the Assembly elections and field candidates in all the 230 seats if there would be no alliance with other like-minded parties. Talks are still in progress,” he told reporters here.

Mr Nath had held discussions with BSP supremo Mayawati last month and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday to strike alliance with their respective parties.

He also dropped clear hints that Congress was not willing to share more than 30 seats with its alliance partners, in case the party sealed electoral arrangements with them.

“The Congress will contest in more than 200 Assembly seats,” he said emphatically.

Sources said Congress was against conceding to BSP’s demand to share at least 40 seats.

The Congress was willing to share 22-24 seats with BSP. Similarly, the SP was demanding at least 10 seats, while the Congress was ready to leave only one seat for the party.

Gondwana Ganatantra Party (GGP), which has influence in around 18 tribal-dominated Assembly constituencies, has been demanding a share of at least a dozen seats.

However, the Congress was insisting on sharing only 2-3 seats with the party.