No more poll alliance talks with Samajwadi Party: Congress

May 14th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Amid indications of a fractured mandate, the Congress is keeping all options on alliance open, counting out only the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena, party leaders said here Thursday. Asked if the party was talking with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) for a post-poll alliance, Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh only said: 'We hold two political parties as entirely communal - BJP and Shiv Sena.' The BSP, which rules Uttar Pradesh, is aligned with the Third Front, which aims to form a non-BJP-non-Congress government.

April 26th, 2009 KOLKATA - The Samajwadi Party Sunday said it was open to a tie-up with the Congress after the Lok Sabha polls but ruled out any truck with the Third Front and the Left as they were aligned with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). 'As long as our arch rival BSP chief Mayawati is with the Left parties or the Third Front, we are not going for any post-poll tie-up with them,' said Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh, in the city to canvass for his party candidates.

March 19th, 2009 NEW DELHI -Putting all speculation to rest, the Congress party Wednesday announced that possibilities of a poll alliance with the Samajwadi Party for the Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh were over. 'Certainly the possibilities of alliance with Samajwadi Party are over now.

March 18th, 2009 LUCKNOW - Putting the ball in Congress chief Sonia Gandhi's court Tuesday, Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav said his party was 'still ready' to hold talks on seat sharing ahead of the general elections. 'We are still ready to have talks with the Congress party.

March 18th, 2009 LUCKNOW - In an attempt to make light of the controversy surrounding the seat-sharing issue between the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Congress party in Uttar Pradesh, SP chief Mulayam Singh said on Tuesday that he is willing to talk to the Congress to maintain an alliance with them. Talking to the reporters here, Yadav said, "I am ready for the talks (on seat-sharing) if Congress wants.

March 9th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Samajwadi Party Sunday declared 10 more candidates for the Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh taking the number of its nominees to 74, but left six constituencies for the Congress despite the stalemate in seat sharing talks. Of the 80 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state, the Samajwadi Party left Rae Bareli, Amethi, Ghaziabad, Dharora, Mathura and Kanpur City for the Congress.

March 8th, 2009 LUCKNOW - Talks are 'on' with the Samajwadi Party for an alliance ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the Congress said Saturday, adding it is prepared for a 'friendly contest' with the party in at least seven constituencies in Uttar Pradesh. Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh said Saturday: 'Alliance talks are on and we will soon reach a consensus (on seat sharing).

March 8th, 2009 NEW DELHI/LUCKNOW - The Congress Saturday maintained that talks were on with the Samajwadi Party for an alliance ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, but the latter said there were no clear indications of this. 'Alliance talks are on and we will soon reach a consensus (on seat-sharing in Uttar Pradesh).

March 7th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Congress move to announce 24 candidates in Uttar Pradesh amounts to spiking a possible alliance in the state for the Lok Sabha elections, the Samajwadi Party said, adding it would not allot more than 17 seats to the Congress in any tie-up. Miffed at the Congress announcement, Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh told reporters here that this amounted to writing an 'obituary' for a Congress-Samajwadi alliance.

March 5th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Congress Wednesday released its first list of 24 candidates from Uttar Pradesh for the Lok Sabha elections, including its president Sonia Gandhi and general secretary Rahul Gandhi. The list includes some of the rebels of the Samajwadi Party, with which the Congress has been trying to work out a pre-poll alliance in the state.

March 5th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Congress Wednesday finalised its first list of 24 candidates for the Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh. This includes seats the Samajwadi Party wants to contest.

February 12th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Samajwadi Party Friday said the final decision on any pre-poll alliance with the Congress in Uttar Pradesh would be made in two days. 'The final picture of the proposed alliance with the Congress would emerge in two days,' Samajwadi Party general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav told reporters.

January 19th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Rita Bahuguna Joshi, the chief of Congress' Uttar Pradesh unit Tuesday met party president Sonia Gandhi and requested the party high command to finalize the pre-poll alliance with Samajwadi Party as soon as possible so that they could start the campaign process. 'I met Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi and asked them to finalize the alliance and seat sharing with Samajwadi Party.

January 11th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh Monday said that an alliance with the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh would not be possible without 'friendly fights'. 'There are 7-8 contentious seats in the state where an alliance is not possible and we have to have friendly fights (elections) against each other,' Singh, the party's Uttar Pradesh incharge, told reporters here.

January 11th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh Monday said a pre-poll alliance with the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh would not be possible without 'friendly fights'. 'There are seven-eight contentious seats in the state where an alliance is not possible and we have to have friendly fights against each other,' Digvijay Singh, the party's Uttar Pradesh affairs incharge, told reporters here.