Cong-NCP poll alliance by end of this month: Digvijay Singh

The former Madhya Pradesh chief minister and Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh today said that the report on the alliance with the NCP for the Assembly polls in Maharashtra and the opinion of the party's workers thereon would be submitted to the party high command by August 20.

The former Madhya Pradesh chief minister and Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh on Tuesday said that the report on the alliance with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) for the Assembly polls in Maharashtra and the opinion of the party's workers thereon would be submitted to the party high command by August 20.

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Speaking to media persons Singh said that the report would be handed over to Defence Minister AK Antony. The report would be based on the consultations held with party workers across the state, he said. The decision on the alliance with the NCP would be made by the party high command after getting the report, he further added.

Singh made it clear that the assertion by the Congress that it was competent to contest the elections alone, was in no way a comment on NCP's capabilities. When asked for his reaction to a reported statement by NCP leader and Maharashtra minister Ajit Pawar that the Congress should refrain from giving advice, the senior Congress leader shot back: "Nobody is giving advice. But can't anybody even express an opinion? Isn't there freedom of speech in the country?"