All post-poll options with like-minded parties open: Congress

Congress put up a brave front saying that it has kept its options open to all like-minded parties including Trinamool Congress after the Lok Sabha elections.

New Delhi: Unable to have allies in several states, Congress on Thursday put up a brave front saying that it has kept its options open to all like-minded parties including Trinamool Congress after the Lok Sabha elections.

"All options which are secular, non-communal and not against the Congress philosophy are open. Such relations are not based on when A or B has left or someone has attended someone`s rally or not," party spokesman Abhishek Singhvi told reporters. He said, "Don`t judge our present or future alliances with reference to who shares whose platform. In general perception, all pre-election and post-elections options are open within parameters of Congress ideology and within boundaries of Congress philosophy." His remarks came in reply to a question whether Congress alliance with Trinamool Congress was still open after Mamata Banerjee`s disappointing rally in Delhi where Anna Hazare failed to turn up at the last moment. Party leaders, however, say in private that there is no possibility of any pre-poll alliance with TMC which could be a post-poll ally. With the appointment of Adhir Ranjan Chaudhary as the new West Bengal PCC Chief, Congress has given a clear signal against any pre-poll alliance as the Union minister is a known Mamata baiter.