Open to all secular parties, says Cong

Amid rumblings in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) over Narendra Modi’s elevation in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Congress on Wednesday made overtures to the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) saying it was “open” to all secular parties.

“Any secular party can be an ally... We are open to all secular parties... now and in the future,” Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath told news channels.

He at the same time refrained from commenting on the turmoil within BJP and NDA.

“The issues of the BJP must be settled by the BJP, the issues of the NDA should be settled by the members of the NDA,” he said.

To questions whether Congress was open to ally with JD-U, he said, “When the JDU is not a member of the NDA, we will address that situation.”

Naths’ remarks are significant in view of talk in political circles that the JDU-BJP alliance in Bihar could break sooner than later.