Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati announced here on Wednesday that her party will be contesting the upcoming Assembly polls in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh either on its own or with a regional party in those States, but not with the Congress.
The move has placed an obstacle in the path of a joint opposition fight against the BJP not just in the Assembly polls but also ahead of the Lok Sabha election in 2019.
“They [the Congress] are getting arrogant and are under the misconception that they can defeat the BJP on their own but the ground reality is that people haven’t forgiven the Congress for their mistakes and corruption. They don’t seem to be ready to rectify themselves,” she said.
Blames Digvijaya
She placed some of the blame at senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh’s door. “Digivijaya Singh who is also a BJP agent is giving statements that Mayawatiji has a lot of pressure from the Centre so she does not want this alliance.” She also accused Mr. Singh of being afraid of agencies like the Enforcement Directorate and the CBI.
However, she did admit that UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi had “honest intentions” but that “some Congress leaders are sabotaging this.”
She accused the Congress of trying to ‘finish’ off the BSP, saying the former was more interested in destroying her party than dislodging the BJP. “In Karnataka we tied up with the regional party. In Chhattisgarh too, we did the same. Now we have decided to go it alone in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. We may go with regional parties there but certainly not with the Congress,” she read out from a statement.
Congress general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala, however, said that as far as the Congress was concerned, the relationship between “the three (Ms. Gandhi, Mr. Rahul Gandhi and Ms. Mayawati) was of trust.”
Mr. Singh, at the receiving end of flak from Ms. Mayawati, said: “I have already made it clear that I respect Mayawatiji and have been in favour of a Congress-BSP alliance from the beginning. In Chhattisgarh, there were talks for an alliance and she did not go for it. In Madhya Pradesh too, there were talks, but she decided 22 candidates. I have been one of the bitterest critics of Modiji, Amit Shahji, the BJP and the RSS. Rahul Gandhi is our party chief, we follow his directions.”
Ms. Mayawati had earlier announced that the BSP will tie up with Ajit Jogi’s Janata Congress Party for the Chhattisgarh Assembly polls.
Congress general secretary Randeep Singh Surjewala however said that as far as the Congress was concerned, the relationship between “the three (Ms. Gandhi, Mr. Rahul Gandhi and Ms. Mayawati) was of trust.”
“At times, out of emotions, sweet and bitter, things are said. But at last if Mayawatiji holds absolute trust in Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi then other creases can be ironed out,” he said at a presser
