Cong cadres not in favour of pre-poll alliance: Azad

Union Minister and senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad has said pre-poll alliances with regional parties had wiped out the party in some of the states and the cadres in Jammu and Kashmir were not in favour of any such tie up for state Assembly election slated for next year.

"We fought elections in alliance in Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar for a long time. After many years, we found that the party in these states was finished," Azad told reporters after addressing a public rally in Shangus area of south Kashmir yesterday.

Asked if Congress will enter into pre-poll alliance in Jammu and Kashmir for Assembly elections, Azad said the party workers were not in its favour.

"The general perception of our workers is that if the party has to be kept alive, we have to make it vibrant in every Assembly constituency. Only coming to power in an alliance is not important," he said.

The minister said he and JKPCC president Saifuddin Soz respect the sentiments of party workers in the state.

"I and Soz sahib respect the sentiments of the workers. When and how to give these sentiments a practical shape, is yet to be decided," he said.

Congress is a junior partner in the ruling coalition with National Conference (NC) in the state. Both the parties have so far refrained from making any direct comments on whether they will enter a pre-poll alliance for next Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir.

With Lok Sabha and Assembly elections due next year, the state Congress unit has intensified its activities and the party leaders are putting up a united front.

Azad and Soz, who were believed to be heading rival factions in the PCC, attending the public meeting together.

In reply to a question, Azad said Congress extended support to Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi to avoid another election.

"Congress numbers were very low in Delhi. Congress could not have formed a government on its own and the party could not have extended support to BJP. That is why we supported AAP so that a government is formed.

"Otherwise there would have been an election within two months. Elections today are an expensive affair and I don't think it would be in in the interests of the country or any political party to hold elections so soon," he added.