No merger for QED, SP; may go for alliance: Afzal

After failing to work out a merger, ruling Samajwadi Party (SP) in Uttar Pradesh and mafia don Mukhtar Ansari's Quami Ekta Dal (QED) could go in for an alliance for next year's Assembly election.

"I had talks with SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav and after Bakrid (on September 13), a decision on an alliance with the party could be taken after discussions with the other party leaders," QED national president Afzal Ansari said. 

"Instead of a merger, we will go for an alliance," Afzal, who was admitted in AIIMS and discharged on Saturday, said. "Mulayam had called me at the hospital," he added.