Patna : Ruling out any possibility of a JD(U)-Congress alliance in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar said that his party never sought any coalition with the Congress. However, he left room for imagination when he said that the LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan was a “gentleman”.

However, adding oil to the fire of expectations that JD(U) may incline toward Congress, as it severed all ties with the NDA, was the support the former provided in issues relating special status for Bihar and Rahul Gandhi’s opposition for the ordinance protecting tainted leaders from immediate disqualification.

However, on Monday, the JD(U) leader made it very clear that there could be no alliance between the two. It is suspected that the relationship soured further when the UPA failed to provide the special status to the state.

He said,”There has been absolutely no talk at any level. It is baseless. So far, we do not have any electoral understanding with any party. We only have a broad consensus with Babulal Marandi-led JVM(P) for working together on political issues. But there has been no talk of seat sharing yet.

” Speaking well about Paswan, Kumar further added,”In February 2005, we wanted him to be the chief minister. The efforts to have him with us have been there. But the final call has to be taken by him.”