Janjivan Bureau / New Delhi : Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati announced her party would not ally with the Congress in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh assembly elections in a decision that comes as another blow to Opposition’s already fragile alliance against the Bharatiya Janata Party.
As she announced her decision, Mayawati said her party was willing to have an alliance with regional parties.
“In Karnataka we tied up with regional party. In Chhattisgarh too, we did the same. Now we have decided to go alone in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. We may go with regional parties there but certainly not with the Congress,” Mayawati said as she read out a statement.
She made her grouse with the Congress amply clear: she accused the party of trying to “finish off” the BSP, and holding “arrogant” notions that it could take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP on its own.
“The ground reality is that people haven’t forgiven Congress party for their mistakes and corruption and they don’t seem to be ready to improve themselves,” she said, months after the party had joined the Congress and several opposition parties in Benguluru in a show of opposition strength.
She however made it clear it wasn’t the Gandhi family that she had a problem with. “I feel that Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi’s intentions for Congress-BSP alliance are honest. However some Congress leaders are sabotaging this. Congress leaders like Digvijaya Singh do not wish for a Congress- BSP alliance. They are afraid of agencies like ED, CBI,” she said.
To a proposed joint alliance that has hit already several roadblocks even before it’s been formally forged, Mayawati’s decision is likely to come as massive setback. The alliance, still in its infancy despite general elections being less than a year away, already faces inter-party fracas and political differences that appears to be growing harder to resolve.
