MP-LJD-ALLIANCE

8 parties to meet for MP alliance talks: Loktantrik Janata Dal
    Bhopal, Sep 23 (PTI) Eight political parties will meet
on September 30 to work out an alliance against the ruling BJP
in the forthcoming Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls, Loktantrik
Janata Dal mentor Govind Yadav said Sunday.
    The move comes against the backdrop of Mayawati-led
BSP Thursday announcing its first list of 22 candidates for
the MP state polls.
    "Now that the BSP has decided to fight elections on
its own, we are going to sit together to talk about forming an
alliance so that the opposition vote does not get fragmented,"
Yadav, former Janata Dal (United) Madhya Pradesh president,
said Sunday.
    Leaders of the Samajwadi Party (SP), CPM, CPI, Bahujan
Sangharsh Dal, Gondwana Gantantra Party, Rashtriya Samanta
Dal, Prajatantrik Samadhan Party, apart from the Loktantrik
Janata Dal, would meet to work out the modalities of an
alliance, Yadav informed.
    He added that the proposed alliance was ready to "come
under the umbrella" of the Congress in order to unseat the
BJP, which has been ruling the state for 15 years.
    Yadav, however, added that time was running out for
the Congress which had, so far, failed to a form a grand
alliance in the state.
    "So, I am going to meet Sharad Yadav (former Janata
Dal (U) president), who is from MP, asking for help to bring
the opposition parties on one platform," Yadav said.
    The Congress, meanwhile, Sunday said that the party
was still hopeful of an alliance with the BSP.
    "We are in talks with the BSP and Samajwadi Party. I
am hopeful that 'bua' (aunt-referring to Mayawati) and
'bhatija' (nephew- referring to Akhilesh Yadav) will help the
Congress defeat the BJP," MP Congress chief Kamal Nath said
Sunday.
    "Our first priority is to stop the fragmentation of
anti-BJP votes to ensure its defeat," Nath told reporters.
    According to another Congress leader, the BSP wants 25
seats in the alliance while the former is ready to give
Mayawati's party 15 seats.
    The BSP currently has four MLAs in the 230-member MP
Assembly. PTI LAL
BNM BNM