2014 elections as scheduled: Tewari

The 2014 general elections would take place as scheduled and there was no question of holding them earlier, Congress leader and union minister Manish Tewari said Thursday.

"There are still nine months to the elections.. it will be held as scheduled," Tewari, the union information and broadcasting minister, said here.

On a possible tie-up with the Janata Dal-United (JD-U), which has broken up with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led NDA, Tewari smiled and said: "Let us see" but refused to elaborate.

The JD-U broke away from the BJP over its elevating Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as the party's poll campaign chief for 2014 elections - viewed as a key step in his elevation as the BJP's prime ministerial candidate.

The JD-U, especially party leader and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has never cared to hide his unease over Modi's rising prominence in the BJP in the wake of the 2002 Gujarat sectarian riots which over 1,000 people, mostly Muslims, were killed.

The Congress is seen as moving closer to the JD-U following its split with the BJP. During recent events, especially the Body Gaya bombings and the mid day meal deaths in Bihar, the Congress did not criticize the ruling JD-U.

Regarding forming coalitions in Uttar Pradesh, Tewari said the Congress would see the "permutations and combinations" that work out ahead of the election.

He also said the BJP had "no presence in the east or south of India".