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No problem with Sonia`s foreign origin: Deve Gowda
New Delhi, Feb 06: Janata Dal(S) president H D Deve Gowda today ruled out any pre-poll alliance with the Congress in the coming Lok Sabha elections but said he did not share the BJP`s trenchant attack on Sonia Gandhi because of her foreign origin.
New Delhi, Feb 06: Janata Dal(S) president H D Deve Gowda today ruled out any pre-poll alliance with the Congress in the coming Lok Sabha elections but said he did not share the BJP's trenchant attack on Sonia Gandhi because of her foreign origin.
''I have absolutely no problem with Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin. Even during the 1999 Lok Sabha polls, I had refused to join the attack by some political parties on Rajiv Gandhi's widow because of her Italian descent,'' Deve Gowda said.
Briefing reporters on the deliberations of the party's national executive committee meeting, held here yesterday, the Former Prime Minister asserted that there was no relevance in the controversy being whipped up by the bjp with regard to the foreign origin of the Congress president.
He said that the 14th general elections would most probably result in a hung Parliament. ''This is not only my perception but the pervading feeling among the people.''
In the event of a hung Parliament, the stage would be set for a realignment of political forces with lots of ''permutations and combinations'', he said, adding that the party would then decide its options for aligning with political formations.
''But the alliance of the Janata Dal (S) will strictly be with a secular party,'' he said, ruling out any adjustment or tie-up with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Bureau Report
Briefing reporters on the deliberations of the party's national executive committee meeting, held here yesterday, the Former Prime Minister asserted that there was no relevance in the controversy being whipped up by the bjp with regard to the foreign origin of the Congress president.
He said that the 14th general elections would most probably result in a hung Parliament. ''This is not only my perception but the pervading feeling among the people.''
In the event of a hung Parliament, the stage would be set for a realignment of political forces with lots of ''permutations and combinations'', he said, adding that the party would then decide its options for aligning with political formations.
''But the alliance of the Janata Dal (S) will strictly be with a secular party,'' he said, ruling out any adjustment or tie-up with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Bureau Report