Cong willing to join hands with SP

Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Saturday hinted at the possibility of her party leading a national coalition against communal forces and said a grand alliance with Mulayam Singh Yadav's Samajawadi Party and Ajit Singh's Rashtriya Loktantrik Dal in Uttar Pradesh was also feasible.

"At the national level, we are open to working with secular parties to defeat communal forces," she said at a press conference in Srinagar at the conclusion of a two-day conclave of Congress chief ministers. As far as coalitions in the states are concerned, she said: "It is in the hands of the chief ministers and PCC presidents. They will give us their inputs."

With regard to Uttar Pradesh, where 14-member RLD has pulled out of the Bahujan Samaj Party-Bharatiya

Janata Party government, she said there was a possibility of Congress extending support to the Samajwadi Party's bid to form an alternative government in the state.

Sonia said she has had meetings with Ajit Singh, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Amar Singh.
 
"The situation is still fluid and the [Uttar Pradesh] governor is yet to respond [to the opposition demand that the BSP-BJP government prove its majority on the floor of the House]," she said.

Admitting that her party's base in UP is weak, she said a new PCC chief has been appointed and several programmes have been undertaken at the organisational level to strengthen it.