Cong leader rules out mid-term poll to LS

Hyderabad, Aug 23 (UNI) Veteran Congress leader and Andhra Pradesh Finance Minister K Rosaiah today ruled out mid-term polls to the Lok Sabha in the wake of the standoff between the UPA government and the Left parties over the Indo-US nuclear deal.

Talking to newspersons here, Mr Rosaiah, who represented Narasraopet in the 12th Lok Sabha, said though the Left parties differed with the UPA Government on the deal, they would not go to the extent of withdrawing support, in his opinion.

''We have to wait and see,'' he said when asked about the reported ''threat'' from the CPI(M) of ''serious consequences'' if the Manmohan Singh government operationalised the deal. The Congress party was not in a ''hurry'' to go for a snap poll, he said.

Replying to a question, he pointed out that the then Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao had successfully run a minority government for five years.

The Congress party wanted to run the government for its full term, he said adding in the event of any snap poll to the Lok Sabha, his party would win more seats as, according to different rating agencies, the popularity of UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had been growing.

Even if there was any mid term poll to the Lok Sabha, there was no question of a snap poll to the State Assembly, he asserted.

UNI