Cong may ally with SP in UP for LS

By Our Special Correspondent

New Delhi

July 5: Amid the newly-found bonhomie between the Samajwadi Party and the Congress, the ruling party on Saturday indicated that it could lead to a tieup in Uttar Pradesh between the two parties in the next Lok Sabha elections.

"The process of consultations has not yet started. There is no quid pro quo for support over the nuclear deal but there could be a feeling of avoiding a division of secular votes by the time of the next Lok Sabha elections," AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh said.

Party sources said that Congress chief Sonia Gandhi is expected to set up a mechanism for seat-sharing talks with the SP within a month.

The sources said that the Congress planned to focus on some 35 of the total 80 seats, including nine it had won in the last Lok Sabha elections and 28 others in which it had secured sizeable number of votes.

The Congress has been on the decline in the politically key state in the last 20 years in the backdrop of the Mandal and the Ram Mandir surge.

The Assembly elections last year saw the Mayawati-led BSP securing an absolute majority.