Bhopal: Samajwadi Party chief and UP former CM Akhilesh Yadav addresses a press conference, in Bhopal on Thursday, July 19, 2018. (PTI Photo) (PTI7_19_2018_000042A)

‘Waited long’ for Congress, will consult BSP for Madhya Pradesh polls: Akhilesh Yadav

By Kashmir Age Online On Oct 6, 2018

Samajwadi Party president and former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav Saturday said he would consult the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) for the Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections, as he has “waited too long” for the Congress. His comment comes days after BSP chief Mayawati announced that the party would not ally with the Congress, and would contest the Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan elections alone.

“We have waited too long for the Congress. How much longer should we wait? We will now consult the Gondwana Gantantra Party (GGP), with which we had an alliance, and the BSP for the coming assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh,” Yadav was quoted.

The Party also released the list of six candidates for the upcoming polls on Saturday.

Samajwadi Party releases the list of six candidates for Madhya Pradesh #AssemblyElection2018 pic.twitter.com/UN8qMe2WPj
— ANI (@ANI) October 6, 2018

Reacting to Yadav’s remark, the Congress said in New Delhi that it had not been planning an alliance with the SP in Madhya Pradesh in any case. But Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala added there had been a possibility of an alliance with the BSP in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.

The Election Commission on Saturday announced poll dates for five states. Legislative elections in Madhya Pradesh will be held on November 28 and the counting will be held on December 11.

On Wednesday, Mayawati said that some Congress leaders were out to ‘destroy’ the BSP though its president Rahul Gandhi and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi favoured an alliance. She called the Congress “arrogant” with a “casteist and communal mindset”, and said that people had not forgiven the Congress for their “corrupt government”.

Yadav had earlier urged the Congress to bring all anti-BJP parties on one platform in the poll-bound states and implied that a delay in this regard might prompt other parties to declare their candidates for the upcoming assembly elections in both states.