A day before the formal announcement of the tie-up between the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Samajwadi Party (SP) in Uttar Pradesh for the 80 Lok Sabha seats, the Congress on Friday said it would be a “dangerous mistake” for secular parties to ignore them.
Congress sources indicated that party chief Rahul Gandhi would focus on U.P. from now on and is expected to visit the State more frequently. While he is scheduled to visit his constituency, Amethi, on January 22, he is expected to hold public meetings across U.P. in February.
The SP-BSP alliance in U.P. has indicated that it will not field anyone in Amethi and Rae Bareli, the Lok Sabha constituencies of Congress president Rahul Gandhi and UPA chief Sonia Gandhi, respectively.
Asked to comment about BSP-SP leaving out the Congress from the alliance, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said it was the duty of every party to come together to defeat the Modi government.
“The objective of all such parties, including the SP and the BSP, is similar and clear — to try and eliminate this kind of autocratic and absolute mis-governance, to remove such people from the electoral map,” Mr. Singhvi said.
“Every such party has the responsibility to synergise and ensure the efficiency of that outcome. Each of such parties have the obligation to do so. Those who do not do it will be blamed by the public,” he added.
The Congress spokesperson echoed his party president who, in an interview to Gulf News, had said that the party would “spring a surprise and ignoring them” would be a mistake.
“Nobody should underestimate the Congress with its reach, presence and support base in Uttar Pradesh. Congress is an established party in the State... We may have fallen in difficult times but ignoring us will be a dangerous mistake,” said Mr. Singhvi.
But he was quick to add that the party hoped for better understanding soon.”We are hopeful of a happy and harmonious relation with them in the coming days,” he said.
