Stay away from SP, BSP: UP Congress chief

UP Congress chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi Sunday appealed to the party's central leadership to stay away from the SP, the BSP and the RLD while forming the new government at the centre.

Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi Sunday appealed to the party's central leadership to stay away from the Samajwadi Party (SP), the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) while forming the new government at the centre.

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"I am going to convey the party leadership in Delhi that it should maintain a distance from SP, BSP and RLD while forming the government," Joshi told reporters here.

Without naming Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo Lalu Yadav and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) chief Ram Vilas Paswan, Joshi said: "In fact, we will suggest to the high command to stay away from all those parties that insulted the Congress in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar and worked against us."

"Our distance from such parties would become the strength of the Congress party," she added.

Joshi said that she would make every effort to ensure Congress MPs from Uttar Pradesh were accommodated in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's cabinet.

"I will ensure Uttar Pradesh gets a proper representation in the cabinet. For this, I would ask the central leadership to include at least five-six MPs from the state in the cabinet," said Joshi.