Beni sticks to his stand of Cong's post-poll tie-up with BSP

Lucknow: Union Minister Beni Prasad Verma, who created a flutter by advocating Congress’ post-poll alliance with BSP in Uttar Pradesh, today stuck to his stand saying there should be no truck with “a party of goondas”. “BSP is better than SP which is a party of goondas …even if Congress falls short of the majority mark, it would have the key to government formation”, Verma told PTI. In case there is a need for taking help for government formation, “BSP is a better choice than SP”, Verma said adding SP would not be able to form the government on its own. “Wait till tomorrow… in case there is no clear mandate, the issue would be discussed with the party high command where I will present my views as to which party should be preferred and why “, Verma said. [caption id=“attachment_234758” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Union Minister Beni Prasad Verma, who created a flutter by advocating Congress’ post-poll alliance with BSP in Uttar Pradesh, today stuck to his stand saying there should be no truck with “a party of goondas”. Screengrab from IBN-Live”]  [/caption] Meanwhile UPCC president Rita Bahuguna Joshi, when contacted, said Verma has always been expressing his views openly and he has done the same this time also, which is his personal opinion. “There is no change in the party stand as such… we will stake claim only in the event of getting majority or emerging as the single largest party or else sit in the opposition”, she said adding exit polls would be proved wrong tomorrow when counting of votes is taken up. PTI