New Delhi: BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) on June 2 pooh-poohed Congress president Sonia Gandhi's remarks that her party was open to coalition at national and state level, saying it indicated the failure of the party's state governments and loss of confidence to fight the coming Assembly polls on its own.

"The Congress party's new stand shows it has lost confidence to fight NDA (National Democratic Alliance) on its own and form a government at the Centre. After reviewing the performance of its governments in 15 states, the party has realised that it needed some allies, which is a clear indication of its failure," BJP president Venkaiah Naidu told reporters.

He claimed that people in the rural areas of states governed by the Congress were "angry" over the power and water situation and the condition of roads.

Alleging that while Congress spoke of coalition before elections and its "tone and tune" changed after the polls, he said the party's prospective allies would do well to raise questions like who would lead such an alliance and what would be its ties with Communist parties in Tripura and West Bengal on the one hand and the Centre on the other.

"They should clarify whether it would be 'kushti' (wrestling) in Tripura and Bengal and 'dosti' (friendship) in Delhi," the BJP chief said.

Asked whether BJP was unnerved by the Congress opening upto coalitions, he said, "We are happy that it is now toeing our line whether it is soft 'hindutva', cow slaughter or coalition."

The BJP, he said, was happy with the coalition experiment and "want to go forward (with it)".

PTI