Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Oct 19: In an indication that the opposition INDIA bloc may not work as an united front at least in the coming elections to five state Assemblies next month, the Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav virtually put the Congress on notice in respect of selection of candidates for the Madhya Pradesh elections and hinted of rethinking his party’s joining hands with the grand old party.
Accusing the Congress leadership of “fooling” other parties, Yadav on Thursday said had he known that the alliance did not work on state level, they would not have been so open to the INDIA bloc. His party, he said, would do a rethink on joining hands with the Congress for the Lok Sabha polls.
The Congress and Samajwadi Party — allies at the national level — have ended up fielding candidates against each other on 18 seats in MP. The development is expected to divide the anti-BJP votes and play into the hands of the state’s ruling party in the coming assembly election.
“We spoke to ex-chief minister of Madhya Pradesh (Kamal Nath, who now heads the party’s state unit),” Mr Yadav told reporters. They discussed the party’s performance. “We told them where our MLAs have previously won… told them where we have been on number 2 earlier,” Mr Yadav said. The discussion, he added, went on till 1 am.
“They assured us that they will think about us for six seats. When they announced candidates there was nothing for SP. If I knew there is no alliance on state, then we wouldn’t have met. We wouldn’t have spoken to Congress. Will think about alliance for the Lok Sabha polls… Our behaviour will be the same as they will behave with us,” he added.
The Congress had released the first list of 144 candidates on the first day of Navratri. Eight hours later, the Samajwadi Party released the names of its nine candidates, where there was an overlap on five seats. On Wednesday evening, the SP announced another 22 candidates, of whom 13 were pitted against the Congress from various seats.
The matter worsened after the party’s Uttar Pradesh chief Ajai Rai made some strong comments. The SP, he had said, does not have any ground support in MP and should not contest elections there. Also, the Congress was preparing to contest all 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh, he had added.
It had left Mr Yadav — a former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh — fuming. “I want to tell Congress that their chirkut neta (small-time leaders) should not speak about SP… These Congress people are with the BJP… Had I known that there is no alliance on state level, I would not have send SP leaders to Kamal Nath, Digvijaya Singh,” Mr Yadav added.
Yesterday, Kamal Nath said talks were still on with the SP regarding the state-level alliance. There were also “practical glitches”, he said. “Our candidates aren’t ready to fight on the SP poll symbol, even if the SP says it is ready to field our candidates on its symbol. In such a situation, what shall we do? These are practical aspects on the ground,” he said.
Both the parties, however, were on the same page on the need to beat the BJP at the hustings. “We want the SP to help us defeat the BJP. I thank Akhilesh Yadav, as he aims to defeat the BJP. He told this to me personally,” Kamal Nath said.
Meanwhile, a comment by the Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar about his friendship with some BJP leaders also evoked some interests in the opposition camp though the party allies sought to play down his comments as his “personal feelings.”
Pointing towards a BJP leader from the stage, Nitish Kumar said “All the people we have here, are our friends. You will remain connected to me as long as I live.” Nitish Kumar was speaking at the convocation ceremony of Mahatma Gandhi Central University in Motihari where the President Droupadi Murmu and the Bihar governor Rajendra Vishwanath were present on the dais.
“All the people we have here are our friends. We are different, you are different, does it mean our friendship will end? You will remain connected to me as long as I live. We will all work together. President, we are very happy that you are here. We would like you to keep coming here. We will show you the entire Champaran once, the land of Mahatma Gandhi,” Nitish Kumar said.
The RJD, an ally of Nitish Kumar, played down the comments saying the Bihar Chief Minister was speaking of his personal relationships. “Radha Mohan Singh (of BJP) was sitting in front, so he spoke about his personal relationship. There is no mention of any party. People interpreted him incorrectly” said RJD’s Shakti Yadav.
The BJP also distanced itself from the comments and said it has no connection any more with Nitish Kumar. “Nitish Kumar has left, we have asked him to leave. BJP clearly believes that we are together in development but there is a fight on principles. Amit Shah has said he has no connection with Nitish Kumar” said Saket Choudhary the state BJP chief.
