By IANS,
New Delhi : The Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) Friday said that it would be a credible alliance partner in the third front against the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and reiterated that it would not be in any electoral alliance with the Congress.
The party described as “rubbish” reports in a section of the media that the JD-S has started discussions with the Congress leadership for a poll alliance in Karnataka for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
“We are already in alliance with the Left parties, TDP (Telugu Desam Party) and AIADMK. And we are trying to strengthen the third front against both the Congress and the BJP. Reports questioning our credibility are rubbish,” party spokesperson Danish Ali told IANS.
Media reports said that the JD-S leadership had started informal discussions with senior Congress leaders to form a pre-poll alliance in a bid to prevent the division of anti-BJP votes in BJP-ruled Karnataka.
“We think we will be able to have an alliance with some parties in the UPA (United Progressive Alliance),” Ali said, without spelling out the names of the parties.
The Congress Thursday announced that it would prefer to go with state specific alliances. The state leadership of the Congress in Karnataka believe that an alliance with the JD-S will help them win a considerable number of seats in the state.
In the last assembly elections in 2008, the JD-S led in four parliamentary segments and the Congress in 14 parliamentary segments. The state has 28 Lok Sabha seats.
Ali claimed that the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) would join the third front in a post poll scenario.
“The BSP generally contests elections alone. They will be with us in the post poll scenario. They have already announced that they are anti-Congress and anti-BJP,” he said.