Former Prime Minister VP Singh has declared that he would back the Congress in the forthcoming assembly elections to ensure the BJP's defeat. He, however, said he did not want to join Congress.
Dismissing the controversy over Congress chief Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin as an "election stunt", he hailed the Congress as the only party capable of unseating the BJP-led NDA.
"In states like Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi and Chhattisgarh, there is no force other than the Congress to counter the BJP. We'll ask voters not to divide the secular vote," Singh said at a press conference on Wednesday.
Singh, whose rebellion against Rajiv Gandhi in the late 1980s pitchforked him into the PM’s chair on the wings of an anti-Congress coalition, said he would support the Congress only in states where there was no 'third' alternative.
For example, he said, he would continue supporting the Left in West Bengal and Deve Gowda in Karnataka.
"In a war, if one starts finding fault with the weapon (read Congress), one will not be able to fight. One must first hit the enemy (read BJP) and then clean up the weapon," he said.
{{/usCountry}}"In a war, if one starts finding fault with the weapon (read Congress), one will not be able to fight. One must first hit the enemy (read BJP) and then clean up the weapon," he said.
{{/usCountry}}Asked if the Congress wanted his support, Singh said he was doing so on his own, just as he did in the Gujarat polls. "I don't know if the Congress is keen on my support," he confessed.