Upset with the Congress for not conceding any seat so far for the Samajwadi Party in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday hinted that the Congress could get the same treatment from his party in Uttar Pradesh.
In stinging remarks that exposed chinks in the opposition INDIA grouping, Yadav also said the Congress leadership should not allow its small leaders to comment on his party.
The SP chief said his party leaders wouldn’t have picked calls from the Congress for a meeting in Madhya Pradesh had he known that the INDIA alliance was confined to the national level. I must have got confused, he told reporters in Sitapur, apparently in sarcasm.
Yadav said if the alliance was only for parliamentary elections, his party accepted it. But he threw hints that there would be problems for Congress when seat-sharing in Uttar Pradesh is discussed for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
If the alliance in UP is only for the Centre, it will be discussed at that time. And the manner in which the Samajwadi Party is treated, they will get to see the same treatment here.
On the upcoming Madhya Pradesh polls, he said, Had I known on the first day that there is no alliance at the Vidhan Sabha level, our party leaders wouldn’t have gone to the meetings. We wouldn’t have given them a list (of seats that the SP wanted to contest in MP), nor would we have picked their calls,” he added.
The SP has so far declared its candidates on 31 seats for the November 17 elections to the 230-member Madhya Pradesh Assembly.
When asked why it has done so, Yadav said, If there is no alliance at the state level, we accept it and declare our party candidates. What’s wrong in what we have done?” He said SP leaders gave the Congress leaders data related to the party’s performance in previous Madhya Pradesh elections at the discussions that went on till 1 am.
He claimed the Congress leaders had said they were considering leaving six constituencies for SP nominees in a seat-sharing agreement in that state, but they did not concede even one.
The INDIA grouping came into being primarily to put up a united front against the Bharatiya Janata Party in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
In the 2018 Madhya Pradesh elections, the SP won one seat (Bijawar in Bundelkhand region) and finished second on five, securing 1.30 per cent votes in alliance with tribal Gondwana Gantantra Party.
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