The Samajwadi Party on Monday indicated that it favoured Manmohan Singh's projection as the Congress party's prime ministerial candidate in the next Lok Sabha polls during which it also wants an alliance between the two parties in Uttar Pradesh.
"I think, Manmohan Singh is fine," SP general secretary Amar Singh said when asked whether his party would like the Congress to project anybody as Prime Ministerial candidate like the BJP has done.
"I don't think, they have got anybody else's name," he said, adding that Sonia Gandhi has expressed confidence in him "which is visible".
He, however, was quick to add that it was for the Congress to take the call on the issue as it is their "internal decision".
The Mulayam Singh Yadav-led party feels that the alliance with Congress in UP as also in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra would be in the mutual interest of the two parties.
Asked whether the SP would like to have an electoral alliance with Congress in UP as they are coming close at the Centre, Singh said, "Why only UP, it can also be in MP and Maharashtra. It should be there."
"I am not averse to the alliance. If it happens, it will be good, but if it does not happen, I will not be shattered," Singh said.
Talking about UP, Amar Singh said the alliance would benefit the Congress and at the same time would "not be detrimental" to SP's interests.
"In MP, it (alliance) helps me." About the scope of the alliance, the SP leader said it was a matter of discussion.
Suggesting that Digvijay Singh could be the pointsman of the Congress for discussions, the SP leader said the former Madhya Pradesh chief minister besides being the leader of that state is in-charge of UP.
"He can be two-in-one."
"But I don't know what is the level of expectation of Congress in UP and what is the level of reciprocity in MP and whether they are matching. It is a matter of detail," he said, adding that the matter should be discussed.
He indicated that "some mechanism" will be evolved. Singh said he had been authorised by Mulayam Singh to discuss any possibility of alliance and the SP was waiting for Congress to authorise someone.
Asked about the future of UNPA, in which SP was a key constituent, Amar Singh said, "The country is more important than fronts."
Insisting that the Third Front experiment cannot be successful without the Left, he said the UNPA was "jeopardised the day Left parties decided to put itself behind Congress." "The Left is responsible for making the country's politics bi-polar. Had Left taken charge of UNPA earlier, it would have been a force by now," Amar Singh said.
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