Cong rethinks, reads between partylines

‘‘What all the Congress president said was that the question of leadership should be settled by each party internally. No one should impose leadership on other parties,’’ Reddy said. He also specified that ‘‘the Congress prime ministerial candidate is Sonia Gandhi’’.

On the question whether she would be projected as the leader of the proposed secular alliance, he said: ‘‘We will discuss that with other parties involved.’’

Reddy also said that the question of whether the leader of the single largest party, in principle, should lead the coalition ‘‘will be settled by the parties concerned through talks’’.

‘‘Gandhi is the leader of the Congress party and it is for the other allies to think over the issue,’’ he said, adding that the other parties should also make their choices known.

At the same time, Reddy categorically ruled out Congress supporting a third front and said, ‘‘There is no scope or space for a third front given the ground realities…There is no question of Congress supporting such a front.’’ On the possible parties for a pre-poll alliance, he named RJD in Bihar, Nationalist Congress Party in Maharashtra and the Indian Union Muslim League in Kerala.