After BSP, SP leader Akhilesh Yadav steps out from ‘Mahagatbandhan’
After BSP Supremo Mayawati ruled out a possible alliance with the Congress, SP leader Akhilesh Yadav also snubbed Congress for the Madhya Pradesh elections. Akhilesh said that he will now consult the Gondwana Gantantra Party (GGP), with which they had an alliance, and the BSP for the coming assembly elections.
Ending further speculations, the former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister said that SP will hold talks with BSP and also hinted at a possible alliance with Mayawati’s party for the upcoming assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh.
Earlier, SP leader Akhilesh Yadav had put Congress on notice saying time was running out and being the bigger player, it should reach out to the other parties for the alliance. “Congress has made us wait for long. We will hold talks with BSP,” said SP leader Akhilesh Yadav on a possible alliance with BSP for Madhya Pradesh polls.
Akhilesh Yadav’s decision is another blow to opposition’s efforts to stitch a united front against the ruling BJP ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Asked if SP will not weaken its resolve to defeat BJP (in UP) fielding candidates in MP, Akhilesh said, “We cannot end our presence in the state.” “I am saying even today that the Congress should show its large-heartedness, and it should contest elections taking along all the political parties who have similar thoughts and ideology,” SP leader Akhilesh Yadav said.
On Wednesday, Mayawati said her Bahujan Samaj Party 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. The SP leader Akhilesh Yadav is the second leader from the planned Mahagathbandhan or grand alliance to have ditched the Congress following Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati’s lead.
However, Congress President Rahul Gandhi said that Mayawati’s decision not to have an alliance with his party in Madhya Pradesh will not impact its poll prospects in the state even as he suggested that the BSP may come on board for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. “I don’t see the BSP alliance impacting us much in Madhya Pradesh,” said Congress president Rahul Gandhi.
To a question on alliance talks, Gandhi said, “The alliance in state and the alliance in the Center are very different. Mayawati ji has indicated that. We were pretty flexible in the state, in fact, I was more flexible than some of our state leaders. We were in the midst of the conversation but I guess they decided to go their own way”.
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