After failing to tie-up with the SP-BSP alliance, Rahul Gandhi led Congress party seems to have faced another embarrassment ahead of the Lok Sabha election as BSP supremo has rejected Congress party’s offer of not fielding candidates at seven Lol Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh.
On Monday, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati slammed the Congress party and clearly stated that her party is having no alliance with Congress for the upcoming Lok Sabha election, a day after the Congress had left seven seats for the leaders of the SP, BSP and RLD, who are part of Mahagathbandhan in Uttar Pradesh. The party had said that they will not field Congress candidates against Mulayam Singh, Dimple Yadav and Akshay Yadav of SP, Chaudhury Ajit Singh and Jayant Chaudhary of Rashtriya Lok Dal, BSP Supremo Mayawati, while the seventh name was not announced, which was speculated to be Akhilesh Yadav.
In a tweet in Hindi, Mayawati said, “BSP once again clears that it has no understanding or an alliance with Congress in any part of the country including Uttar Pradesh. Our people should not get misled by the words of Congress.”
“Congress is free to field its candidates in all 80 seats which means the alliance is able to defeat BJP on its own. Congress should not mislead people,” said Mayawati.
https://twitter.com/Mayawati/status/1107513717019815936?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Meanwhile, the SP-BSP alliance has stood by their decision to not field any candidate in Amethi and Rae Bareli seats. While Congress chief Rahul Gandhi is the sitting MP from Amethi, Rae Bareli is held by United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi.
The Samajwadi Party led by Akhilesh Yadav, Mayawati’s Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) and Ajit Singh led Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) had joined together to take on the NDA, which had secured 73 seats in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
The SP-BSP-RLD ‘Mahagathbandhan’ has agreed on a seat share formula with SP contesting on 37 seats while BSP is set to contest from 38 seats. RLD will be contesting from three seats – Baghpat, Muzzafarnagar and Mathura.