UPA will form government, asserts Congress

May 20th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday re-elected as the chairperson of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), which is all set to form the next government at the Centre. During a meeting of the UPA, held at Gandhi's residence 10, Janpath, she was re-nominated the chairperson of the UPA.

May 16th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Admitting that the Congress party was in a position to form the next government, Communist Party of India (CPI) general secretary A.B. Bardhan Saturday said that they would, like always, sit in opposition and fight for poor people's causes.

May 13th, 2009 CHENNAI - Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK President M Karunanidhi on Wednesday said the Congress-led coalition would again form the government at the Centre. Speaking to media persons after casting his vote, Karunanidhi said, "It will be again a Congress-led government at the Centre after the Lok Sabha polls." He said the DMK-Congress would appear victorious in all the 40 Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.

May 11th, 2009 KOLKATA/SHIMLA - Trinamool Congress (TMC) Chief Mamata Banerjee has expressed confidence that the Congress-led coalition will form government without Communists' support. Addressing a news conference here on Sunday, Banerjee said, "Congress-Trinamool Congress alliance will remain strong.

May 10th, 2009 KOLKATA - Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee Sunday described Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi as a 'young man' and said the media had distorted his comments about seeking the Left support to form a government after the Lok Sabha polls. Banerjee, who ruled out her joining the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) after the polls, claimed the Congress was neither too keen and nor would it need the Left parties' support to form a coalition government.

May 8th, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) general secretary Prakash Karat said the Third Front was poised to make a 'serious bid' to form the government as he held talks with Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik here Friday, 'We will work to form a non-BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party), non-Congress government,' Karat told reporters, with Patnaik of Biju Janta Dal (BJD) standing next to him. The Marxist leader said he believed the elections would throw up a hung parliament.

May 3rd, 2009 KOLKATA - Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) politburo member Sitaram Yechury Sunday said the Congress cannot form a government on its own after the general elections. 'After three phases of election, the Congress has realised that it cannot form the government this time at the centre on its own strength,' Yechury said here.

April 23rd, 2009 MUMBAI - The Congress party is poised to improve its tally in the 15th Lok Sabha and would not require the support of Left parties to form a government at the centre after the ongoing elections, a central minister said here Thursday. Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office Prithviraj Chauhan told mediapersons that in the last (2004) Lok Sabha elections, the Congress contested on its own strength and was able to form the government.

April 21st, 2009 PATNA - Congress leader and External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee indicated Tuesday that Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad was no longer an ally of the party. 'It has become difficult to keep him as an ally.

April 9th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Dropped as the party candidate for the Lok Sabha poll from Delhi, Congress leader Jagdish Tytler said Thursday he was a loyal party worker and would campaign for the party if asked to. He also said that the protests against his candidature for the Delhi Northeast constituency were politically motivated.

April 5th, 2009 AGARTALA - Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) general secretary Prakash Karat Sunday said it was now 'thousand percent confirmed' that the Third Front with the Left parties in the lead would form the government at the centre after the Lok Sabha polls. 'While the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) has already broken, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has not a single ally in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and many other states,' he said, addressing an election rally in the Tripura capital.

March 21st, 2009 RANCHI - The Congress Saturday denied that it had promised Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) chief Shibu Soren that his party will be allowed to take power in Jharkhand after the Lok Sabha election. 'As of now, no assurance has been given to Shibu Soren to form the next government in Jharkhand,' Congress leader Kesav Rao, in charge of the state, told IANS over telephone from New Delhi.

March 21st, 2009 NEW DELHI - Allaying fears of any split in the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the Congress party Friday said the coalition was intact and 'issues' with its partners would be sorted out soon. 'The UPA is intact.

March 20th, 2009 RANCHI - The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) said Friday it hoped to form a government in the state under Shibu Soren if the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) wins the Lok Sabha polls. Mathura Prasad Mahto, chief whip of JMM, told reporters that if the UPA won the April-May general election, the cabinet will revoke the suspension of the Jharkhand assembly.

February 7th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Congress represents hope for the future, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told party workers Sunday and urged them to apprise voters about the achievements of the government in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections. 'With elections around the corner, you are once again called upon to carry the party's message and the government's accomplishments to each and every voter throughout the country,' the prime minister, recuperating from a heart surgery, said in his message that was read out at a convention of the Congress leaders here.