A visibly surprised Samajwadi Party welcomed the victory of Congress in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh and is now readying itself to accommodate the resurgent grand old party in the anti-Bharatiya Janata Party truck to contest 80 Lok Sabha seats of UP in the 2019 parliamentary elections.
SP chief Akhilesh Yadav had skipped the mega opposition meet in Delhi on Monday, where top opposition party leaders met to work out a mechanism for stitching a grand alliance to take on the BJP in the 2019 polls.
After the success of Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Lok Dal in three Lok Sabha and one assembly bypolls in UP, the SP and BSP had distanced themselves from the Congress and had expressed reluctance in accommodating the grand old party in the alliance.
During poll campaigns in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, Akhilesh had adopted a strident anti-Congress posture, terming the Congress and the BJP as two sides of the same coin.
However, as the assembly poll results trickled on Tuesday, Akhilesh took jibes at the BJP in a series of tweets saying, "Abki bar kho di sarkar (this time you lost the elections).
In another message, the SP chief said, "Jab ek aur ek milkar bante hain gyaraha, tab bade bado ki satta ho jati hai nau-do-gyaraha." (When one plus one becomes eleven, then power eludes the influentials).
SP candidates did not fare well in the just concluded assembly polls though the party had fielded its candidates in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan.
"Power had gone to the heads of BJP leaders and made them very arrogant. They trampled the aspirations of farmers, poor youths and other sections of society. The public was already reeling under the double whammy of Goods and Services Tax and demonetisation. The BJP also attacked the freedom of expression and destroyed institutions that sustain democracy," the SP chief said in a statement issued in Lucknow on Tuesday.
Akhilesh asserted, "The vote in three states is not only against the programmes and policies of the BJP but also against the anti-people policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The results have demonstrated that the BJP can not only be tamed but also defeated in a comprehensive manner. These results have also proved that the Modi 'charisma' is on the wane."
Later on Tuesday evening, the SP chief held consultations with party leaders to work out a strategy for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
A senior SP leader said, "The party is under pressure from the successful rally organised by Shivpal Singh Yadav in Lucknow on Sunday. Now, the rise of the Congress like a phoenix in these three states has only added to the pressure."
"The Congress should now behave in a more responsible and large-hearted manner and accommodate regional parties which hold sway in Uttar Pradesh. It should be willing to play second fiddle to them and give more space to the SP and BSP," he said.
The SP leader said that with the results of the recent assembly polls, the Congress would never agree for just two Lok Sabha seats in UP and definitely play hard ball for forging an alliance with the SP and the BSP.