Close on the heels of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) announcing to go it alone instead of forging an alliance with the Congress in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, the Samajwadi Party (SP) too on Saturday said it has “waited for too long” for the grand old party to respond and would look at the non-Congress outfits in Madhya Pradesh, including the BSP, for a pre-poll seat sharing deal.
SP president and former UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav said his party will now consult the Gondwana Gantantra Party (GGP), with which it had an alliance, and the BSP, for an alliance in MP.
The announcement of the SP against the backdrop of a running discussion among the Opposition parties for striking a grand national alliance against the BJP-led-NDA could only help inspire an “optimism” in the ranks of the BJP in the run up to the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. BJP insiders are happy at party’s prospects in MP after Akhilesh’s announcement.
The SP’s distancing from the Congress comes just days after Mayawati shut the door on any BSP alliance with the principal Opposition party for Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections. The BSP has gone ahead with forging a seat-sharing pre-poll deal with former Chief Minister Ajit Jogi in Chhattisgarh. The coming together of Jogi, the first CM of Chhattisgarh, and Mayawati, could also upset the poll calculations of the Congress in the State where just over one per cent vote had decided the outcome of the last Assembly poll.
The SP and the BSP have accused the Congress of not showing “large-heartedness” during the seat-sharing talks for Madhya Pradesh which along with Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram would go to polls in November and December, dates for which was announced by the Election Commission on Saturday.
“The Congress has made us wait for too long. How much longer must we wait?” SP president Akhilesh Yadav said.
“We will now consult the Gondwana Gantantra party with which we had an alliance, and also the BSP, for the coming Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh,” Yadav told reporters on the sidelines of a party event at Lucknow. “Time is passing by and we cannot wait any longer,” he asserted.
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.
On Wednesday, Mayawati said the BSP will contest the Assembly polls on its own or in alliance with a regional party.
She had said Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi wanted an alliance but some “selfish” senior leaders in their party were out to foil any understanding. According to reports, Congress State leaders analysed the electoral configuration of the 30 seats sought by the BSP and anticipated that the BJP may benefit if the BSP were to contest the said seats.
Reacting to Mayawati’s statement, Akhilesh Yadav had then urged the Congress to show large-heartedness by taking along other parties. “If there is any delay, there is a possibility that other parties may declare their candidates. After this, there will be a levelling of allegations that they colluded with the BJP,” he had said.
As against the possible ‘gathbandhan’ partners moving in different directions and unable to share a single platform, Congress president Rahul Gandhi has hoped that the Lok Sabha 2019 would witness a grand alliance including BSP and SP against the BJP-led-NDA. Not discounting such hope from the Congress president, the BSP chief had put the blame (for not reaching a seat-sharing with Congress in MP) at the door-steps of State Congress leaders.
Mayawati and Akhilesh, the two major regional satraps in UP, along with Ajit Singh of ‘Rashtriya Lok Dal’, are seen to be in consultations to forge an anti-BJP Opposition alliance in the State for the Lok Sabha poll to upset NDA’s record win of 73 LS seats in 2014. The Congress is also expected to join the anti-BJP bandwagon in UP where 80 LS seats are up for grabs. Notwithstanding this, Mayawati is proving to be a hard nut to crack as she wants a major share of 80 LS seats and bargaining hard with the SP, her one-time arch rival in the State.