An early decision on Telangana issue is "very important",

says Jogi underlining that Andhra Pradesh has been a key state in the Congress scheme of things. Jogi, who had been the national spokesman of the party when it was in Opposition, however, steers clear of questions on future allies and whether the Congress leadership should give a call for all former partymen to return to the fold. His stock reply is that party Vice-President Rahul Gandhi has formed a Committee headed by senior leader A K Antony which is going into this matter and decide both pre-poll and post-poll allies and submit it to the Congress Vice-President and President for final approval. The talk in the party is that there will be pre-poll alliances only in a handful of states including Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Jharkhand. Jogi feels that Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi posed no threat to Congress even if he is made the prime ministerial candidate. "Modi, in my opinion, is not a national leader and has no pan-Indian acceptance whereas our leadership, in truth, is all India leader, whether Sonia Gandhi or Rahul Gandhi, they are leaders of the nation, not any state or region. Modi is seen as a leader of Gujarat and he is yet to go to other states and has to be accepted by them... 2002 riots will never allow him to be accepted by the nation...," he says. He also feels that an advantage for Congress in the next Lok Sabha elections is that the BJP, is in "disarray". "They have not been able to decide on their leader and policies and is witnessing an open revolt and it has lost state after state, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand and they are about to lose Karnataka, where they are in a very bad shape... I sincerely feel we do not have a competitor," he says.