Congress rules out President's rule option in Uttar Pradesh

New Delhi, Feb 8 (ANI): Congress party spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi has brushed aside a proposal to consider imposing President's rule in Uttar Pradesh in the event of the hung assembly poll result.

Talking to reporters here, Singhvi said the party was confident about getting the requisite numbers to form a government in Uttar Pradesh.

He described the remark of party general secretary Digvijay Singh as something that should not be misconstrued.

"You must not forget the first premise of Digvijay Singh's statement and that is purely hypothetical and imaginary. The Congress's wind, storm is blowing across UP and such a situation need not and will not arise at all," he said

"But in the unlikely event that it does, in the hypothetical and somewhat imaginary event that it does, certainly, we are not interested in a game in UP only for power purposes. Certainly, we do not want to do remote control, directly or indirectly and therefore we are not interested in imposing that system or that regime," he added.

Earlier, Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain criticized Singh for his statement and described him as the bane of the Congress party.

"When he has managed to sink the Congress's fortunes in Madhya Pradesh, he has now come to Uttar Pradesh. Wherever Digvijay Singh goes, the Congress is bound to fail. Digvijay Singh's statement that President's rule can be imposed in UP after elections is baseless. He doesn't know the people of UP, they will give the BJP a huge majority, even more than in Madhya Pradesh. So, in the garb of President's rule, the Congress's plan of enjoying power is not going to happen," Hussain said.

The Uttar Pradesh polls are being viewed as an opportunity for major parties to re-establish their foothold in the country's fifth largest and most populous state.

A new 403-member state assembly will be elected in March. The poll results will broadly indicate trends for the 2014 general elections. (ANI)