Anti-Bjp Parties Keep Cong Guessing

Congress leaders in Delhi are wary of the strategy the Samajwadi Party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Bahujan Samaj Party will adopt for the Delhi Assembly polls.

Although Congress leaders are confident of victory, they are worried these parties could prevent them from winning a majority.

In an Assembly of 70 members, a party needs 36 MLAs to form a government on its own. The Congress, not keen on depending on smaller parties to form a government, is unwilling to accommodate their demands for an alliance.

The SP and the RJD have asked for five seats each, and the BSP for ten.

The Congress is not interested in sharing seats with the BSP. Further the SP and the RJD could be given a maximum of three seats each, said a Delhi unit general secretary.

The Congress is, however, willing to leave the Matia Mahal seat for sitting Janata Dal member, Shoaib Iqbal.

What worries the Congress is that though the smaller parties win few seats, the division in anti-BJP votes is enough to ensure BJP victories in a number of constituencies.

Further, their pro-Muslim campaigns tend to create a pro-BJP majority backlash.

Meanwhile, the smaller parties are wary of the Congress' declaration that it wants to reclaim lost ground in their strongholds, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

Statements by senior party leader Rajesh Pilot and former MP S S Ahluwalia against the Rabri Devi government in Bihar have exacerbated this fear among the SP and the RJD.

Furhter, Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee chief Salman Khursheed has said that his party would have nothing to do with Mulayam Singh Yadav in Uttar Pradesh. He has been wooing Muslims to shun Mulayam and return to the Congress fold.