Apna Dal not averse to alliance with BJP

Varanasi, Feb 19 (UNI) Apna Dal (AD), a political force in eastern Uttar Pradesh, has not ruled out striking an alliance with BJP before the Assembly polls in the state.

''We do not rule out prospects of a pre-poll tie up with BJP or any other party including Congress, but a decision will be taken only after due consultations with the party rank and file,'' Apna Dal president Sone Lal Patel told mediapersons here today before addressing a public rally.

''There are no permanent friends or foes in politics and hence alliance with any party, be it BJP or Congress cannot be ruled out.

Presently, there is no such talk and anything on this count will be decided only after the dates for Assembly polls are announced,'' Dr Patel said.

AD has formed a front with the Janata Dal (United), a key ally of the BJP. ''We will surely contest 300 seats on our own and leave the rest for our partner,'' Dr Patel said, whose party had contested 353 seats in the last Assembly polls, but won only four.

BJP national president Rajnath Singh on January 14 last had indirectly hinted at a pact with AD saying, ''it was upto the state leadership to decide over the issue of striking a pact with non-NDA parties.'' Former UP CM and BJP candidate for the chief minister's post Kalyan Singh, however, had later scotched any possibility of alliance, especially the AD saying ''we will go alone.'' AD has a siginificant presence in those parts of east UP, which have large pockets of 'Kurmi' population, the same caste which Dr Patel belongs to.

UNI