Kerala - Kochi

‘Parties concerned about early polls’

Kochi: Rashtriya Lok Dal president Ajit Singh said here on Saturday that every party was now concerned about an early parliamentary election, not the merits or otherwise of the civilian nuclear deal.

At a press conference, he said the issue was no longer confined to the merits of the deal. In fact, each party had to decide whether it wanted an early election and on the kind of alliances to be formed. Most parties did not want early elections. Besides, each party would have to take its stand on many of the problems such as inflation and agricultural crisis faced by the country.

Mr. Singh said his party had been supporting the UPA for the last four years without any conditions. He had been in touch with Congress leadership.

His party had not held any meaningful talks with the Samajvadi Party leaders. They had been campaigning against the nuclear deal for the last six months. But now they said that they had not read it.

He said that the issue was not the confidence or no-confidence vote against the UPA government. It was now the issue of early elections.

The elections would be held after two or three months, he opined.

Mr. Singh said he supported the nuclear deal with certain reservations.

His party would meet in New Delhi on July 7 and decide its the stand on the non-confidence motion, earlier elections and the future alliances.

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