All post-poll options with like-minded parties open: Congress

NEW DELHI: Unable to have allies in several states, Congress today put up a brave front saying that it has kept its options open to all like-minded parties including Trinamool Congress after the Lok Sabha elections.

"All options which are secular, non-communal and not against the Congress philosophy are open. Such relations are not based on when A or B has left or someone has attended someone's rally or not," party spokesman Abhishek Singhvi told reporters.

He said, "Don't judge our present or future alliances with reference to who shares whose platform. In general perception, all pre-election and post-elections options are open within parameters of Congress ideology and within boundaries of Congress philosophy."

His remarks came in reply to a question whether Congress alliance with Trinamool Congress was still open after Mamata Banerjee's disappointing rally in Delhi where Anna Hazare failed to turn up at the last moment.

Party leaders, however, say in private that there is no possibility of any pre-poll alliance with TMC which could be a post-poll ally.

With the appointment of Adhir Ranjan Chaudhary as the new West Bengal PCC Chief, Congress has given a clear signal against any pre-poll alliance as the Union minister is a known Mamata baiter.