After BSP, SP rules out alliance with Congress
LUCKNOW: After the BSP, the Samajwadi Party (SP) on Saturday ruled out an alliance with the Congress for the Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh assembly elections.
The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) had recently announced that it would not have any alliance with the Congress for assembly polls in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.
“We will fight elections in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh and speak to the Gondwana Gantantra Party (GGP) and BSP for an alliance in the two states. The Congress has made us wait for long. We can’t wait anymore. We are already in touch with the GGP for an alliance in Chhattisgarh. We will do the same for MP,” SP chief Akhilesh Yadav said while speaking to media persons on the sidelines of a convention of senior teachers at the party headquarters here.
In an indirect reference to the statement of senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh that the BSP was not aligning with the Congress against the BJP in Madhya Pradesh for fear of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the CBI, Yadav said parties like the SP and BSP were not scared of anything.
He said the SP was ready to explore the possibility of a coalition with the BSP in MP.
The Congress and the SP contested
› The Congress has made us wait for long. We can’t wait anymore. We are already in touch with the GGP for an alliance in Chhattisgarh. We will do the same for MP
AKHILESH YADAV, SP chief
the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls together in 2017 but the alliance did not work in their favour as the BJP stormed to power with a landslide victory.
On whether the SP would support Congress president Rahul Gandhi as Prime Minister if a Congress-led alliance won 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Yadav said this was not relevant just now.
“As of now, I want that the BJP-led government is voted out of power,” said Yadav.
Yadav said the people wanted a change (of government) and added that they should not expect development from the BJP-led government.
He said chief minister Yogi Adityanath was still inaugurating projects of the SP government. “Don’t expect anything from them (BJP government),” said Yadav.
About the law and order situation in the state, Yadav said the BJP government had lost the faith of the people. “I had congratulated the DGP when he assumed office. He assured me justice would be done to all. The people are still waiting for jus- tice,” said Yadav.
About black bands worn by some ‘protesting’ UP policemen on Friday, Yadav said the Yogi government was misusing institutions and so “it would have to bear the fallout of such misuse.”
(With agency inputs)