No setback, says Kamal Nath

A day after BSP supremo Mayawati ruled out an alliance with the Congress in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan for the upcoming Assembly polls, MP Congress president Kamal Nath claimed that her decision is not a setback for the party.

Talking to the media here, he said it was unjustified to blame Digvijay Singh for the breakdown of talks for a BSP-Congress alliance in the two poll-bound states.

Mayawati, in a press conference, had accused Singh of sabotaging the prospects of an alliance between the two parties, calling him "an agent of the BJP".

Her outburst followed Singh's interview to a channel, in which he said the BSP chief appeared to be under the fear that the Modi government may unleash the Enforcement Directorate and CBI on her.

Kamal Nath expressed confidence that even ordinary BSP workers will understand the fallout of the breakup and make up their mind accordingly.

"The BSP was asking for seats where its vote share never exceeded 6%. If the Congress had yielded to such demands, neither party would have won, and the BJP would have emerged the eventual winner," Kamal Nath said.

The Congress, however, is hopeful that its ongoing talks with the Samajwadi Party for an alliance would bear fruit.

To a question on how confident the Congress is about facing the elections, he said, "We are very confident."

"I have a sense for elections, which I have been seeing for 40 years. There is a groundswell of support for the party, which is phenomenal. We certainly will defeat the BJP," he said.