Patna, July 18: Describing Congress president Sonia Gandhi as a "stumbling block", NCP today said it will not enter into an alliance with the Congress if a pre-condition that Gandhi would head the front is imposed. "The Congress pre-condition that it will enter into an alliance with secular parties only on the condition that Sonia Gandhi will lead the front is not acceptable to NCP. We will have no truck with the Congress either before the ensuing Lok Sabha polls or afterwards on this condition," Nationalist Congress Party general secretary Tariq Anwar told reporters.
Referring to Gandhi as a "stumbling block" in the way of coming together of secular parties, Anwar said Congress should "replace" her with somebody else. Asserting that setting a pre-condition was against the spirit of coalition, he said if Congress is genuinely interested in forming a front of secular parties to defeat the BJP-led forces, it should come forward with an open mind without imposing conditions.
"The question of leadership would be decided by the leaders of the front after the polls," the NCP leader said. Anwar said his party favoured prohibiting a person of foreign origin from occupying a high constitutional post. "We demand an amendment to the constitution to prohibit people of foreign origin assuming high posts in the country," he said. Bureau Report