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The BJP is ahead of us: Alva

Congress spokesperson Margaret Alva on Monday virtually admitted that the Bharatiya Janata Party was making hay at the cost of the opposition parties whose internecine squabbles was costing them votes.

"Yes, the BJP is ahead in the Uttar Pradesh civic polls and we have not been able to perform as we would have liked to," Alva told reporters, adding that "the BJP is ahead of us."

Alva pointed out that other opposition parties like the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party had not been able to perform according to expectations.

"We have not been able to perform well because the secular votes are divided. I wish it was not so," she said.

Asked why this had happened, Alva relied, "There are too many secular parties."

She, however, was not willing to spell out which those parties were.

"You asked me about secular votes so I will not comment further. I can only speak about my party as a secular party," she said.

Significantly, even while referring to the opposition mayhem in the Lok Sabha on Monday morning causing its adjournment twice, Alva did not name the Samajwadi Party with which it has been having wide-ranging differences.

"Even those who had been disturbing us (the Congress) in our attempts to raise the issue of the farmers' plight, joined us on Monday in raising the farmers' predicament in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar where they are unable to get remunerative prices for their produce because of the government's agricultural policies," she pointed out.

She reiterated her party stance that farmers were suffering because of "the government has failed."

The recent incident where Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh allegedly kicked senior Congress member Mani Shankar Aiyar for the latter's reported comments against SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, still appears to be rankling the leaders of the two parties.

The incident allegedly occurred during a dinner party at the residence of painter Satish Gujral, brother of former prime minister Inder Kumar Gujral.

Samajwadi Party MP Akhilesh Singh maintained that Aiyar had been given "the correct treatment" by Amar Singh.

"Insolence mixed with insult, that too against our party chief will not be tolerated," Singh added.

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