Patna, July 09: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) general secretary
Jagannath Mishra today hailed the statement of Congress president
Sonia Gandhi that her party was open to entering into electoral
alliances with secular parties to defeat the BJP and its other NDA
allies in the Lok Sabha elections.

The Congress president's decision was in tune with the requirements
of present day politics, Mishra, a former chief minister of Bihar,
told reporters.

Now that the Congress has expressed its readiness to forge alliances
with secular parties, it should go for pre-poll alliances as all
post-poll arrangements are born out of political compulsions, he
said.

This will, apart from sending right signals to the electorate, curb
political opportunism, he said.

Gandhi had declared in her closing address in the Shimla
brainstorming session that the congress was prepared to enter into
appropriate electoral and coalition arrangements to defeat the BJP
and its allies in the coming general elections.