The rift between Congress and Samajwadi Party seems to widen over seat division in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh with the later party’s chief Akhilesh Yadav saying who would trust the party if it behaved like this.
In reply to Yadav, the Congress leader Ajay Rai accused the party of "directly or indirectly" helping BJP.
"If Congress didn't want to give seats (in MP), then they should have said it before. Today, SP is fighting only on seats where it has its own organisation. Now after Madhya Pradesh, I know that the INDIA alliance is for the (parliamentary) elections on a national level. If Congress continues to behave like this, then who will trust them? If we fight with confusion in mind against the BJP, then we won't succeed," Yadav reportedly said.
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Rai said if SP wanted to stop BJP in its tracks, it would have to support the Congress in MP.
"Akhilesh Yadav, the public can see who is with BJP. In Ghosi bypolls, we supported them (SP) and they won. At the same time, Bageshwar bypolls were held in Uttarakhand. They fielded their candidate there but the BJP won and Congress lost. This shows who is directly or indirectly helping BJP. This will be proven in MP also. If SP believes that BJP should be stopped from winning, then they should support the Congress," he said, as per HT report.
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Meanwhile, MP Congress chief Kamal Nath gave a curt reply when asked about allegations of betrayal against Congress.
"Are bhai chhodo Akhilesh Vakhilesh (leave questions on Akhilesh)," he reportedly said.
Congress leader Supriya Shrinate, however, sought to play down the row.
"I feel small tussles often happen during ticket distribution and it is very obvious. They (Samajwadi Party) are a part of INDIA alliance and will try our best to convince them," she told PTI.
Responding to the Congress party's argument that the INDIA alliance was meant for national politics and not assembly elections, Yadav on Thursday accused the Congress of betrayal.
“We would have not given them the list and would have not picked the phone calls of Congress leaders. They betrayed us. Are they making fools of us? Why Kamal Nath and Digvijay Singh kept us engaged in meetings? The Congress leaders are in a nexus with the BJP,”he said.
He also threatened that SP will reciprocate in equal measure in Uttar Pradesh, where it is stronger.
Tensions between the two alliance partners rose after BJP released its first list of 144 candidates in Madhya Pradesh on Sunday.
