Cong hints at tie-up with JD-S

The Congress on Sunday hinted at being open to doing business with the Janata Dal-Secular again in Karnataka if there was a hung verdict in the assembly elections.

"The JD-S had a nightmarish experience working with the Bharatiya Janata Party, but not with the Congress. We also worked with them for 20 months happily," All India Congress Committee Media Department Chairman M Veerappa Moily said.

He was asked whether the Congress would join hands with Deve Gowda's JDS in Karnataka in the event of the party not managing to get majority in the 224-member assembly.

JD-S holds its cards tight

"Congress has a culture of coalition. The party has always stood for stability. You know that the party has made sacrifices in the past for the sake of stability. The BJP has a sense of insecurity which we don't have," Moily, also a former Karnataka chief minister, said.

The Congress was part of a coalition government in Karnataka along with the JD-S for 20 months following the2004 elections, which threw up a hung assembly.

The Dharam Singh government had collapsed, with the JD-S parting ways and aligning with the BJP.

AICC spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan said secularism is a common factor between the Congress and the JD-S, but added that the Congress high command would take a decision on the party entering into any alliance in the state.

"Why not?," was her reply when asked if the Congress was willing to form an alliance with the JD-S, adding this is something better than having no government.

Natarajan also said that in the event of a post-poll alliance with the JD-S, the chief minister's post should go to the Congress on account of having larger number of seats.