Lucknow: A day after the Congress said it was leaving seven Lok Sabha seats for the SP-BSP-RLD combine in Uttar Pradesh, BSP supremo Mayawati on Monday asked the national party not to “spread confusion” and said the alliance was capable of defeating the BJP on its own.
At the same time, she dared the Congress to go ahead and field candidates in all the 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state. The parliamentary elections in Uttar Pradesh will be held in seven phases.
Hours later, the BSP’s poll ally Samajwadi Party (SP) also asked the Congress not to spread any kind of confusion and maintained that the BSP-SP-RLD alliance was capable of defeating the BJP in Uttar Pradesh. The BSP chief in a series of tweets made it clear that the party will not enter into any alliance with the Congress.
On Sunday, the Congress announced that it was leaving seven Lok Sabha seats in the state for the SP, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) alliance.
“The Congress is free to field its candidates on all the 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh alone. In other words, our alliance (of SP-BSP-RLD) is capable enough of defeating the BJP. The Congress should refrain from spreading confusion about leaving seven seats for the (SP-BSP-RLD) alliance,” Mayawati said in a tweet.
In a tweet, SP president Akhilesh Yadav said, “In Uttar Pradesh, the SP, BSP and RLD alliance is capable of defeating the BJP.The Congress party need not spread any kind of confusion.”
Mayawati also said, “The BSP would like to make it clear once again that there is no alliance or understanding with the Congress in Uttar Pradesh and anywhere in the country.” “Our party wrokers should not succumb to confusion being spread almost everyday by the Congress,” she said.
The Congress on Sunday said it would leave more than a dozen Lok Sabha seats for other parties, including seven for the SP, BSP and RLD alliance in the politically crucial Uttar Pradesh.
Apart from this, the grand old party also said that it will leave two seats for the Apna Dal, and entered into an electoral agreement with the lesser known Jan Adhikar Party.
The SP and the BSP had forged an alliance on 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state. As per the deal, the SP will contest 37 Lok Sabha seats in UP and the BSP 38, leaving three for the Ajit Singh-led Rashtriya Lok Dal and two for Sonia Gandhi (Rae Bareli) and Rahul Gandhi (Amethi).
The seats offered by the Congress include Mainpuri, Kannauj and Firozabad, all held by the SP, and those likely to be contested by the BSP chief and RLD chief Ajit Singh and his son Jayant Chaudhary, UP Congress chief Raj Babbar told reporters here Sunday.
He said that the Congress was reciprocating the gesture of the alliance which has left Rae Bareli (held by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi) and Amethi (held by Congress president Rahul Gandhi) for it. (PTI)
