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Sonia says Congress is willing, but will not bring down Vajpayee government

Congress president Sonia Gandhi today said her party was ready to take responsibility to form a government at the Centre if the BJP-led coalition government collapsed under its inner contradictions.

She, however, said the Congress would do nothing that made the present government fall.

Talking to newspersons in Calcutta, she said her party was in touch with all the Opposition parties.

When her reaction was sought to the offers of support by the Left parties which had earlier been criticising the Congress, she said the situation had now changed and in politics anything could happen. The Congress was now considering the Left parties as a possible ally, she said.

Asked if AIADMK chief J Jayalalitha set the same conditions as she had done in the case of the BJP-led government, she said the ''question does not arise''.

To another question, she said imposition of President's rule in Assam, which the party's state unit had been demanding, would have to be examined. The law and order situation in Assam was deteriorating, she said.

Gandhi, who visited some of the flood-ravaged areas in Kamrup district yesterday, had described the situation as ''painful''. She said the people had complained to her that flood relief was not distributed equally among all the people.

Regarding the insurgency problem in the state, she said it was the responsibility of the government in power to solve the issue.

UNI

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