Congress insists on no alliance in UP

New Delhi, Mar 5 (ANI): Congress Party on Monday stuck to its pre-poll stand of not allying with any political outfit to form the government in Uttar Pradesh.

Congress spokesperson Renuka Chaudhary said until results of the elections were out, the party would stick to its stand of being on its own.

"We had no pre-poll alliance, and we are not yet in a post-poll situation. So, why are we crossing bridges before we come to them? Rahulji (Rahul Gandhi) had categorically said that we will either form the government or sit in the opposition. That is what was said then. We leave it at that," she said.

The Congress Party's denial came in the wake of comments made by Union Steel Minister Beni Prasad Verma, who hinted at a possible tie-up with Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in Uttar Pradesh.

Describing Samajwadi Party to be a 'party of goons', Verma earlier in the day said: "The democracy has been hurt whenever the Samajwadi Party (SP) came into power. The others do not do very good, but they do not hurt the democracy."

Verma had earlier on Sunday said that the Congress should forge an alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), as BSP chief Mayawati was thousand times better than Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Acknowledging the efforts put in by Rahul Gandhi during the Congress campaigns, Chaudhary also denied the possibility of a potentially embarrassing poor performance.

"First of all, I don't think we are going to be in an embarrassing position at all. So, your perception of embarrassment will have to be elaborated upon before we answer that. I have no doubts about that, so there is no question of us then addressing the issue further, when there is no foundation for it," she said.

The Congress, which holds only 22 seats in Uttar Pradesh, is hoping to increase its presence substantially in a state where for over two decades, it has been a minor political force.

The Uttar Pradesh polls are being viewed as an opportunity for major political 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)