No post-poll alliance with any party in UP: Cong

Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi on Tuesday asserted that Congress will not form alliance with Bahujan Samaj Party, Samajwadi Party or Bharatiya Janata Party in the event of a hung assembly in the state.

"We are not going to have a truck with any party which has patronised criminals and indulged in corruption while in power in the state. That rules out the possibility of a tie-up with the BSP as well as the SP. It holds true for the BJP as well. We would prefer to sit in the opposition and wait till the people of UP vote us to power," she told mediapersons in Allahabad.

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On Congress leader Digvijay Singh's reported statement that President's Rule could be clamped on UP in the event of the Congress failing to get majority, Joshi said, "Whenever there is a hung assembly, several possibilities do come up... and the possibility of President's Rule can not be ruled out."

However, she said, "I am not saying that a hung assembly will inevitably lead to President's Rule...I must specify that there could be President's Rule in the event of no party or combination having the requisite numbers to form a government in the state."