Lucknow: Hinting that it was not averse to supporting a Congress-led alliance at the Centre, the Samajwadi Party (SP) today (May 9, 2004) said it would do everything to prevent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from coming back to power.

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"Nothing can be ruled out. The secular parties will sit after the poll results are declared and decide about forming a secular alternative," SP national general secretary Amar Singh said.

"We will do everything to prevent the BJP from coming back to power. Under no circumstances will we support the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). We will consume poison but not support NDA," he said.

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However, the SP general secretary evaded a direct reply when asked whether his party would support Congress president Sonia Gandhi to become the Prime Minister.

"Even Sonia Gandhi has said that the name of the Prime Minister will be decided in consultation with the partners," he said.

Singh said that the SP did not consider congress "communal or a Hindutvavadi party "though sometimes it deviates from its path to serve its vested interests".

"There might be difference of opinion among us (secular parties). But we are united on one point and that is to prevent the NDA from coming back to power," he said.

Singh asserted that no secular alternative was possible without the SP.