Bengaluru: Janata Dal (Secular) supremo H D Deve Gowda on Tuesday ruled out having pre-poll alliance with the ruling party Congress, citing time constraint.

Speaking to reporters in Bengaluru, Gowda said that earlier in the day, members of the Samvidhana Rakshanegagi Karnataka had met him and urged him to forge an alliance with the Congress to ensure the "communal" BJP's defeat in the elections. "But where is the time to do this? They have said that the BJP should be defeated in the elections," he said.

Gowda also said that his conversation with the members of the organisation had been misinterpreted by the media.

After the members of the organisation sought the secular forces to unite, Gowda is learnt to have told them to ask the Congress to release its list on seat sharing with the JD(S).

Gowda, however, made it clear that he was not entertaining any such thoughts. "I was saddened by these speculations. The JD(S) has formed an alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). The party is also exploring a pre-poll alliance with the Samajwadi Party (SP). There is no time to explore alliances with any other parties," he added.

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Srinagar (PTI): Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Saturday said the "unjust" war imposed on the people of Iran should end and peace should prevail, asserting that the US and Israel do not get to decide the leadership of the country.

He said it is for the people of Iran to decide about their leadership.

"At the end of the day, what we want is peace. We want this unjust war that has been imposed on the people of Iran to stop. As I have said time and again, America and Israel don't get to decide who the leader of Iran is. Israel and the US don't get to decide who the Supreme Leader is," Abdullah told reporters here.

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The chief minister said Iran's assassinated Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was not just the leader of Iran, "he was an acknowledged religious leader for the entire Muslim Ummah".

"So, this should not be seen as a conflict with Iran; it has far wider implications," he added.

Abdullah welcomed the Indian ships being allowed to carry fuel through the Strait of Hormuz.

"Anything that allows us to keep our prices low is a good thing, whether that means buying oil from Russia or being able to transport our gas and fuel supplies through the strait, which otherwise is closed for everybody else. It is good for us," he said.

However, he added that while India will benefit from the move, "ultimately we will benefit when peace prevails. And we want this unjust war to end".