Rift in INDIA alliance? Akhilesh Yadav hits out at Congress for 'fooling' regional parties

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav has hit out at the Congress for its reluctance to join hands with the regional parties for the assembly elections despite formation of the INDIA alliance.

Yadav accused the Congress of “fooling” other parties, hinting that had they known the alliance doesn’t work at state level, they would not have been so open to the INDIA bloc. “Will think about alliance for the Lok Sabha polls,” said the UP leader, whose party has so far been on board with the united Opposition idea.

The issue of alliance in state assembly elections came up when the Congress and the Samajwadi Party ended up fielding candidates against each other on 18 seats in Madhya Pradesh. The move is expected to divide the anti-BJP votes and play into the hands of the state’s ruling party in the coming assembly election.

"We spoke to former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister and PCC chief Kamal Nath. They assured us that they will think about us for six seats. However, when they announced candidates there was nothing for SP. If I knew there is no alliance at state level, then we wouldn’t have met. We wouldn't have spoken to Congress,” he added.

The Congress had released the first list of 144 candidates on October 15. Eight hours later, the Samajwadi Party released the names of its nine candidates, where there was an overlap on five seats. Last evening, the SP announced another 22 candidates, of whom 13 were pitted against the Congress from various seats.

The matter took an ugly turn when Uttar Pradesh Congress chief Ajai Rai said the SP doesn’t have any ground support in Madhya Pradesh and should not contest elections there. He also went on to say that the Congress is preparing to contest all 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh.

Rai’s strong remarks left the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister fuming. “I want to tell Congress that their chirkut neta (small-time leaders) should not speak about SP... These Congress people are with the BJP... Had I known that there is no alliance at state level, I would not have send SP leaders to Kamal Nath and Digvijaya Singh,” he said.

On the other hand, Kamal Nath said talks are still underway with the SP regarding the state-level alliance. There were also “practical glitches”, he said. “Our candidates aren’t ready to fight on the SP poll symbol, even if the SP says it is ready to field our candidates on its symbol. In such a situation, what shall we do? These are practical aspects on the ground,” he said.

However, the party was on the same page with Akhilesh Yadav on the need to defeat the BJP at the hustings, he said. “We want the SP to help us defeat the BJP. I thank Akhilesh Yadav, as he aims to defeat the BJP. He told this to me personally,” he said.