Shimla, July 07: Congress today gave confusing signals on the key issue of alliances with party president Sonia Gandhi skirting the topic in her inaugural speech at the brainstorming camp even as the party declared that she would be projected as the prime ministerial candidate. "It is a totally closed question... Such a question does not arise. Gandhi is the Congress president and CPP leader and she will lead the party in polls,” party spokesman S Jaipal Reddy told reporters when asked wheather the issue of projecting Gandhi as the leader and prime ministerial candidate in the polls was "open-ended".

Gandhi's 50-minute-speech at the camp was marked by silence on the issue of alliances. Projecting Congress as the only alternative to the ruling BJP whose regime is a "comprehensive failure," she said the Congress was fully prepared for the Lok Sabha polls anytime.
Reddy later downplayed Gandhi's action of sidestepping the alliance issue saying that the Congress "was not (not) against alliance".

He said at the Srinagar conclave, Gandhi had said that the Congress has an open mind on tie-ups with secular parties.
Bureau Report