Even as top Congress leaders maintained studied silence over former Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav’s statement that Congress deserved only two Parliamentary seats in case of an alliance, Congress workers reacted strongly launching a counter attack on the SP patron.
“Mulayam Singh always worked at the behest of BJP leaders and worked on their diktats. Hence, whenever talks of opposition unity start, he is there to throw a spanner,” said a senior Congress from eastern UP.
He claimed that Mulayam Singh always fielded his candidates in states like Gujarat, Bihar etc, where his party did not have a single MlA, to facilitate BJP’s victory.
On the proposed talk of alliance with the SP and BSP in the next Parliament elections, the Congress leader claimed that though a decision in this regard will be taken by seniors but party workers and local leaders are against having any truck with other opposition parties in UP. “Fighting together would facilitate BJP’s victory as then the saffron brigade will openly polarise the polls on communal lines. In case all three major opposition parties contest separately, the BJP would find it tough to retain half the seats won in 2014,”the leader stressed.
“The last UP Assembly elections wherein Congress- SP fought in alliance is a glaring indicator of this phenomenon. Both parties fared very badly,” the leader said.
When pointed out that the recent SP-BSP luink up paid dividends in lok Sabha bypoll, even in CM Yogi Adityanath’s bastion Gorakhpur, the Congress leader said that the people were fed up with BJP government’s failures and so finding a joint candidate, they voted against the ruling party.
“However, in the General elections, if the major parties unite then the BJP will not leave any stone unturned to polarise the election on communal lines,” he opined.