Leaders resent ties with RLD, RJD & SP

NEW DELHI: The ���no RLD, no RJD��� chorus within the Congress grew louder. With party workers from Uttar Pradesh staging demonstrations outside the Congress headquarters on Tuesday against the reported move of Congress leadership to seek support from RLD to get requisite numbers to gain majority in the Lok Sabha.

The demonstrators outside the AICC office shouted slogans against RLD president Ajit Singh, who had entered into a pre-poll alliance with BJP in Uttar Pradesh in the just concluded elections. Party general secretary in charge of Uttar Pradesh Digvijay Singh assured protesters that the party would keep in mind its interests while taking a decision.

Meanwhile, UPCC president Rita Bahuguna Joshi is believed to have written to the party leadership suggesting that there should be no truck with SP, BSP or RLD. She is understood to have suggested that RLD could be asked to merge with Congress.

Earlier at the CWC meeting on Sunday, some members from Bihar had asked that the leadership not to include RJD in the government. Sources in the party said that while the CWC did not discuss the issue, the matter of whether the party should have a truck with RJD in the state is still under consideration. Congress leaders from Bihar held a meeting on Tuesday to discuss this issue.

A section of the party���s Bihar leadership has suggested that given the momentum that the Congress has gained in the state, it would be suicidal to join hands with RJD. A senior leader said, ���Since the ground situation has changed, the Congress has no need to reach out to the RJD. If the leadership still decides to take the RJD on board, it would appear that the Congress was ditching its supporters in the state.���