The Congress, on Tuesday, ruled out any alliance with the Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party for the coming UP Assembly polls.
The party, however, has authorised Mr Rahul Gandhi to take a decision regarding alliances with small political parties.
A decision to this effect was taken at the first meeting of the state election committee held here on Tuesday, which was attended by Mr Rahul Gandhi himself.
Briefing reporters after the meeting, senior party leader Digvijay Singh said that the party had also clarified that there was no chance of a post poll alliance with the BSP since the Congress had been continuously fighting against the misrule of Mayawati in the state. “As for the BJP, there is no question of any alliance ever,” he added.
Mr Singh informed that the party would start the process of candidate selection in the third week of June and names of those candidates where there was a consensus would be declared immediately. “We will try to resolve where there are disputes and then declare the names. We hope to complete the process in the next two months. Candidates who have lost elections on a number of times will be replaced with new candidates,” he said.