Congress hints at taking outside support to keep BJP away

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Congress today made it clear that the party was ready to accept the support of others to form another edition of the UPA government at the Centre after the Lok Sabha polls to avoid "the danger" of BJP under Narendra Modi coming to power.

Dismissing projections that the BJP was the front-runner to form the government as a hype, party veteran and Defence Minister A K Antony said he saw a clear possibility of the UPA forming another government for which other parties would extend support and Congress itself ready to take such support.

Targetting Modi, Antony said the very ideology he symbolised went against national unity and peace.

"The agenda of the BJP, especially those of its prime ministerial candidate, posed a danger to the very unity of the country... In such circumstances, I see there is a clear possibility of a UPA-III at the Centre. For this other parties will also extend support and the Congress is ready to accept that," he told a meet-the-press here.

Asked if the Congress was ready to take the support of the Left after the polls, Antony said it was for them to consider that question.

The impression being created that there was a "Modi wave" across the country was a myth created as part of the BJP's marketing strategy with the support of a section of corporates, he said.

He also did not see any prospect of a Left-led third front emerging as an alternative to BJP since all regional parties had declined to strike electoral adjustment with the Left.

Though UPA had some doubts about its prospects initially, with the campaign gaining momentum, the graph of the Congress had started rising day-by-day, he said.

About the Aam Aadmi Party's prospects, he said everybody had the right to dream. "If you won lottery once, it does not mean that every time you will win," he said.