Hinting it was not averse to supporting a Congress-led alliance at the Centre, the Samajwadi Party on Sunday said it would do everything to prevent BJP from coming back to power. ‘‘Nothing can be ruled out. The secular parties will sit after the poll results are declared and decide about forming a secular alternative,’’ SP national general secretary Amar Singh said here. Terming Rahul Gandhi’s charge that the SP was helping BJP in UP as a ‘‘lie’’, Singh said that it alone was fighting the communal forces in the state. Sonia natural choice for PM if Cong wins: Azad JAMMU: Claiming that Congress and allies will get majority in the Lok Sabha elections, former Union minister and Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said on Sunday that Sonia Gandhi will be the natural choice of the party if that situation. ‘‘For a stable government, the largest party in any combination must lead the government. Deve Gowda, Chandrasekhar and Gujral led the governments but these remained unstable because these coalition were led by parties which had small numbers,’’ Azad said. EC team begins probe in Siwan, hears out parties SIWAN: The EC began its probe into the alleged irregularities in polling at Siwan and Bettiah constituencies on Sunday. JD(U) nominee Om Prakash Yadav told the EC team comprising Secretary Sanga Ram and Additional Secretary Ashish Chakravorty that the RJD workers led by state ministers Awadh Bihari Chaudhary and Ejajul Haque ‘‘rigged polls and captured a large number of booths’’ for party candidate Mohammad Shahabuddin. Local CPI-ML (Liberation) MLA, Satyadeo Ram echoed the charges. The RJD denied the charges. Shahabuddin, in jail charged with kidnap and murder of a CPI(M-L) worker, couldn’t appear before the team. Prakash Jha heckled by RJD; EC team in Bettiah MOTIHARI: Film-maker and Independent for the Bettiah Lok Sabha seat Prakash Jha was on Sunday heckled by RJD workers for asking the elections to the constituency countermanded. As Jha emerged from a meeting with a two-member team of the EC probing alleged irregularities RJD men surrounded Jha, hurled paper missiles and mud on him on the Circuit House. Chapra report with EC, decision soon NEW DELHI: The fact-finding team which visited Chapra Lok Sabha constituency in Bihar to probe allegations of large-scale rigging has submitted its report and a decision on it will be taken ‘‘soon,’’ the EC said on Sunday. ‘‘The EC team to Chhapra has submitted its report to the Commission and a decision will be taken soon,’’ Commission spokesman A.N. Jha told reporters here. —(ENS&PTI)
