Samajwadi Party shuts door on Congress

Put off by the dilly dallying, the Samajwadi Party on Wednesday ruled out any further talks with the Congress on seat adjustment in Uttar Pradesh even if the latter's talks with the Bahujan Samaj Party in this regard fail.

"We are not doing business in politics," SP General Secretary Amar Singh said adding that the Congress holding simultaneous talks with the BSP is 'unacceptable' to his party.

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He asked why the Congress is hesitant to forge an alliance with the SP when it has tied up with the Dravida Munnetra Kazhaghan, which it had earlier accused of having a hand in the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, and the Nationalist Congress Party, which had always questioned the origins of Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

He said the SP would field more than 100 candidates in UP, Bihar, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh during the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls with the aim of winning at least 60 seats.

It has entered into a poll pact with the Ajit Singh-led Rashtriya Lok Dal in UP, where it will contest 70 seats leaving the remaining 10 for the RLD. It is still in the process of identifying winnable seats in other states.