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Samata Party, Janata Dal-United to go it alone in Gujarat

Distancing themselves from the Bharatiya Janata Party, two key National Democratic Alliance allies -- Samata Party and Janata Dal-United -- on Wednesday said they would go it alone in the upcoming Gujarat assembly election.

While the Samata Party will field 50 candidates, the JD-U will field 20 to 25 candidates.

"We will have no alliance with the BJP in Gujarat. There will be no common manifesto or programme. We will have our own manifesto and they will have their own," Samata Party spokesman Shambu Shrivastava said.

JD-U president and Union minister Sharad Yadav said his party had contested the last assembly election in Gujarat all by itself and four of its candidates won. "This time we hope to do better," he said and added that the JD-U ranked third after the BJP and the Congress in the state.

Shrivastava said his party would field its candidates mostly in Saurashtra, Kutch, central and south Gujarat.

Asked if the JD-U would clash with other NDA partners, Yadav said, "NDA is only at the Centre and in a couple of states like Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand, but not in Gujarat where the parties can fight independently."

Gujarat Elections 2002: The complete coverage

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