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Congress to wait

By K.V. Prasad

NEW DELHI, MARCH 28 . The Congress today reiterated that it wanted all secular forces to unite to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance and expressed the hope that the Samajwadi Party would respond to its invitation.

The party said it was "willing to wait as long as we can" for the secular parties to respond and also hoped that the SP would withdraw its nominee for the Lucknow seat so that the entire Opposition could field a single candidate against the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

The Congress spokesperson, Kapil Sibal, said that his party hoped that the SP would support the candidature of the former Law Minister, Ram Jethmalani, for the Lucknow Lok Sabha seat.

On whether the Congress would entertain a request from the SP to back its candidate, Mr. Sibal said the matter could be considered provided the party came up with the proposal.

Representatives of some prominent Muslim organisations, including from the Personal Law Board, today met the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, and impressed upon her the need for unity among secular forces in the coming parliamentary elections.

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