Cong, Bsp Pact Likely In Mp For Polls

The Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party are close to a seat sharing agreement for the forthcoming Assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, a Congress leader said yesterday.

He said both sides were being reasonable and an agreement was likely later at night. If the two parties strike a deal in Madhya Pradesh, it will have a positive impact in Delhi and Rajasthan as well, he added.

Arjun Singh, Manmohan Singh, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh and Ajit Jogi were engaged in negotiations on behalf of the Congress with BSP president Kanshi Ram.

A Congress-BSP seat adjustment could make a difference to the poll outcome.

The BSP's eight to ten per cent vote in the state generally comes from voters who could otherwise have voted for Congress and against the BJP.

Some senior BJP leaders said their party would suffer a major blow if the Congress and the BSP join forces.

At the recent Pachmarhi retreat, the Congress had decided to refrain from alliances in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in order to regain lost ground.

However, the party seems open to alliances in other Hindi heartland states where it would still be the dominant partner.

Although the Pachmarhi declaration appeared to foreclose alliance with the Samajwadi Party and the Rashtriya Janata Dal in future elections in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, Congress spokesman Ajit Jogi indicated yesterday that the party was yet to take a final decision on seat adjustments with non-BJP parties in Delhi and Rajasthan. The BSP, SP and RJD have pockets of strong influence in Delhi.

However, the Congress is worried by the latest indications from within the BJP that former Delhi Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma is willing to pull his weight in trying to ensure victory for his party in Delhi.