Miffed over MP snub, Akhilesh warns Congress

Upset with the Congress for not conceding any seat so far for the Samajwadi Party in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday hinted that the Congress could get the same treatment from his party in Uttar Pradesh.

In stinging remarks that exposed chinks in the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), Yadav also said the Congress leadership should not allow its 'small leaders' to comment on his party.

He called the Congress state president a 'chirkut' (below standard) and alleged that Congress leaders were in cahoots with the Bharatiya Janata Party.

The SP chief said his party leaders wouldn't have picked calls from the Congress for a meeting in Madhya Pradesh had he known that the INDIA alliance was confined to the national level.

"I must have got confused," he told reporters in Sitapur, apparently in sarcasm.

Yadav said if the alliance was only for parliamentary elections, his party accepted it. But he threw hints that there would be problems for Congress when seat-sharing in Uttar Pradesh is discussed for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

"If the alliance in UP is only for the Centre, it will be discussed at that time. And the manner in which the Samajwadi Party is treated, they will get to see the same treatment here."

On the upcoming Madhya Pradesh polls, he said, "Had I known on the first day that there is no alliance at the Vidhan Sabha level, our party leaders wouldn't have gone to the meetings. We wouldn't have given them a list (of seats that the SP wanted to contest in MP), nor would we have picked their calls."

With two more candidates declared on Thursday, the SP has so far declared its candidates on 33 seats for the November 17 elections to the 230-member Madhya Pradesh Assembly.

When asked why it has done so, Yadav said, "If there is no alliance at the state level, we accept it and declare our party candidates. What's wrong in what we have done?"

He said SP leaders gave the Congress leaders data related to the party's performance in previous Madhya Pradesh elections at the discussions that went on till 1 am.

He claimed the Congress leaders had said they were considering leaving six constituencies for SP nominees in a seat-sharing agreement in that state, but they did not concede even one.

The INDIA grouping came into being primarily to put up a united front against the Bharatiya Janata Party in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

In the 2018 Madhya Pradesh elections, the SP won one seat -- Bijawar in Bundelkhand region -- and finished second on five, securing 1.30 per cent votes in alliance with tribal Gondwana Gantantra Party.

When asked about Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee chief Ajay Rai's recent statement that his party would contest on all 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state and criticism of the SP for fielding a candidate for the Bageshwar assembly bypoll in Uttarakhand, Yadav said, "Which leader are you talking about. He has not 'haisiyat' (stature). He was neither present in Patna nor in Mumbai meeting (of INDIA grouping).... What does he know about INDIA alliance?"

"Ask him (Ajay Rai) why his former chief minister (of Madhya Pradesh) Kamal Nath made our people sit till 1 o'clock in the night. Why his former chief minister Digvijaya Singh held meeting with them? This means that you are fooling other parties. These are people associated with the BJP. Congress people are associated with the BJP," he said.

He said, "Had I known that Congress leaders will betray, I would not have trusted them and sent my leaders for talks with them."

Congress state president Rai, when asked about Yadav's 'chirkut' comment, said in Lucknow, "I am a simple man. He (Akhilesh) can use any word for me, no problem. I am a small Congress worker. For me, whatever words he has in his mind and whatever he says, I accept them. But with folded hands I would like to say only one thing that if you want to defeat BJP then you should support Congress in Madhya Pradesh.... Just like we supported SP in the by-election of Ghosi seat."