BWI: We Will Get More Than 165 Seats: Digvijay Singh

Press release from Business Wire India
Source: India TV
Saturday, May 09, 2009 06:24 PM IST (12:54 PM GMT)
Editors: General: Consumer interest, Entertainment, People, Politics; Business: Advertising, PR & marketing, Media & entertainment
Release no: 19899
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We Will Get More Than 165 Seats: Digvijay Singh
Says "it'll Either be Congress or a Government Formed with Our Support"

New Delhi, Delhi, India, Saturday, May 09, 2009 -- (Business Wire India) -- Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh, facing a barrage of questions from India TV Editor-in-Chief Rajat Sharma in AAP KI ADALAT, has said that either Congress would form the government or any government at the Centre would be formed with Congress support. "We will get more than 165 seats. In UP, we are in the reckoning in 35 to 40 seats, while in Bihar, we are giving a tough fight in 10 to 12 seats".

On efforts being made to project Sharad Pawar as candidate for PM, Singh repeated Rahul Gandhi's statement saying Pawar's party should first have to come up with 150 seats. "Numbers are important. There has been experiments in the past with prime ministers having handful of MPs forming governments, like Chandra Shekhar, H D Deve Gowda, and I K Gujral, but the tail can't wag the body any more. If the NCP gets more than 150 seats, then the Congress has no objection. But Mr Pawar on his own, has never said that he is the candidate for PM", Singh said.

Undeterred by the rebuff received from Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, the Congress leader said, by and large, Nitish Kumar has a secular image, and the only question mark about him was his present alignment with the BJP. 'But every thing will depend on May 16 results.'

Singh tried to clarify Rahul Gandhi's statement praising Nitish Kumar, and said that Rahul's comments were being taken out of context. 'If some politician is doing good work, there is no harm praising him. But it is wrong to search for hidden questions behind this remark', he said.

About RJD leader Lalu Prasad and LJP leader Ram Vilas Paswan not attending Friday's cabinet meeting, Singh said, 'it could be that the leaders were busy in campaign. But if anybody thinks he is unhappy, why doesn't he resign?...Laluji is a political man. There is no bitterness from our side. Everything depends on the election results on 16th'.

Digvijay Singh dwelt at length on how the seat adjustment talks with SP and RJD broke down. "In UP, the SP leaders that the Congress was asking more than its due. In Bihar, Laluji and Paswan decided on their own that the Congress should get only three seats. We did not show the SP the door. We are grateful for their support during the no-trust motion, but unfortunately, their leaders did not accept the ground realities". Singh pointed out that there were no differences with DMK, NCP and JMM in the UPA.

About seeking Left support, Singh said that the Left was a secular front. "However, we will take Mamata Banerjee into confidence before taking any decision." He said, the Left had criticized Chandrababu Naidu's policies as pro-reforms and pro-capitalists, and had also opposed the POSCO deal inked by Orissa CM Naveen Patnaik, yet it joined hands with both TDP and BJD despite ideological contradictions.

The Congress leader defended the CBI move on Bofors case accused Ottavio Quattrochi saying that for the last 20 years, the investigations had yielded nothing, but Bofors issue always cropped up during elections. 'Nothing was done against Quattrochi, when the non-Congress governments were in power. Congress had no hand in the CBI's decision. Had Congress interfered, let me tell you, our party leaders are not so foolish as to do any such thing at the time of elections', he said.

Digvijay Singh rejected Mulayam Singh's demand for dismissing Mayawati's government in UP as a condition for SP's support to the Congress, saying that this was not possible. 'We cannot dismiss an elected government. Neither would we want this, nor would the law allow this', he added.


CONTACT DETAILS
Rohit Bansal, India TV, +91 (120) 3051000, rohitbansal@indiatvnews.com

KEYWORDS
CONSUMER, ENTERTAINMENT, PEOPLE, POLITICS, MARKETING, MEDIA

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