Chandigarh: Putting up a brave face after he was not given a Rajya Sabha ticket by the party, senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid on Sunday said he was a "Lok Sabha man" and prefers to contest next years General Elections.

"I am more of a Lok Sabha man. I will be happy to fight the General Elections whenever they are held," Khurshid told meet-the-press programme here.

The senior Congress leader on Sunday failed to get nomination for the Rajya Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh which Samajwadi Party and Congress have decided to contest jointly as Mohd Adib Khan of SP was elected as the candidate for the seat.

Khurshid said though his name was considered for RS candidacy, he would prefer to fight Lok Sabha elections.

"Mohammed Abid Khan, a neutral candidate, will fight the polls as an independent backed both by Congress and the Samajwadi Party," Khurshid said.

He said factors like caste and other regional issues have dominated the polls in Uttar Pradesh during the past decade.

The Congress leader expressed confidence that the differences between the party and SP on seat-sharing would be resolved soon.

"We are sure that we will overcome differences as we are looking at possibility of having a sensible, rationale and reasonable alliance with the Samajwadi Party," Khurshid said.

Asked to comment on senior Congress leader Margaret Alvas recent outbursts, Khurshid said these are part of aberrations in a major party.

"The matter is before the partys Disciplinary Committee, which will decide. Making individual comments on the issue is not going to help."

Asked if the Left parties could once again be part of the UPA after Lok Sabha elections, Khurshid said, "we cannot predict anything now. As for Left, they will have to decide whether they will like to see BJP in power".

He, however, said that "in politics doors are not closed permanently for anyone".

Asked if there could be a tie-up with Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee, Khurshid did not seem to be averse to that possibility.

Khurshid, who is also a member of Congress Manifesto Committee, said the party will come out with a "Vision Statement" on tackling "internal security" and "consolidation of alliance politics".

On MNS chief Raj Thackerays brand of politics, he said, "we are very unhappy about what is happening in Maharashtra. Raj is turning out to be an "irresponsible leader".

"Its a very complex social situation," he said and added that the issue could not be solved by putting Raj behind the bars.

Khurshid said political parties should refrain from attaching connotations to terror acts.

"Even in the Malegaon case, it is better such terms are not used by anyone. We have seen cases where young men from well-to-do families are taking to terrorism. As various factors are responsible for terror acts, we will have to deal differently. Dialogue and firm action are both required," he said.

The Congress leader said the election of Barack Obama as the President of US will open up a new chapter in the growing relations between the two democracies.

On Obamas comments on Kashmir, he said: "We have always maintained that Kashmir issue is a bilateral one which can be best settled between India and Pakistan, a view which has largely been accepted by the world. We would not like any third party mediation in this."

Khurshid said that Pakistan had also "realistically accepted" this viewpoint that the issue was a bilateral one. "We have been having Confidence Building Measures, several rounds of peace talks, Track 2 and 3 diplomacy, opening of trade across the LoC. We are moving forward and I think nobody would like to disturb this," he said.

Khurshid said that if US sees problems in Wazirstan and NWFP in Pakistan could spill over to the eastern side of that country and "if the attention of someone like Clinton is towards that then there is something sensible".

Source : DNA