“Supported Congress to form govt in Madhya Pradesh twice”: SP chief Akhilesh

Hardoi (Uttar Pradesh) [India]: Amid a spat with Congress over seat-sharing in Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls, the chief of Samajwadi Party, a component of the INDIA bloc, Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday said that his party extended support to the grand old party to form their government in the poll-bound state not once but twice.

The Samajwadi Party chief said that his party bagged one seat in the 2018 Madhya Pradesh elections and with their support, the Congress was able to form its government.

“We had one MLA, we were at number two in five seats. At the time when Congress was in need, the Samajwadi Party was the first to support Congress. And the result was that the Congress government was formed in Madhya Pradesh. And even when the need arose again, the Samajwadi Party MLA supported the Congress without any conditions,” Akhilesh Yadav said while speaking to reporters here in Hardoi.

In the 2018 Madhya Pradesh polls, the SP while contesting 52 seats, won one seat, Bijawar, and finished second on five, securing 1.30 per cent votes.

Yadav’s party and Congress, among the parties who have vowed to put up a united front against the Bharatiya Janata Party in the ensuing Lok Sabha polls under the INDIA umbrella, are now at loggerheads in Madhya Pradesh after the latter didn’t allocate any seat to SP despite talks on seat sharing.

Earlier on Thursday, Akhilesh Yadav said that, now, he came to know that the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance is only confined to the national level and that if Congress behaves like this, who will stand with them?

“If Congress didn’t want to give seats (in MP), then they should have said it before. Today, SP is fighting only on seats. Now after Madhya Pradesh, I know that the INDIA alliance is for the (parliamentary) elections at the national level. If Congress continues to behave like this, then who will stand with them? If we will fight against the BJP with confusion in our minds, then we won’t succeed,” he had said.

The BJP, monitoring the development closely, is taking a jibe at both parties saying that they (SP and Congress) have come together to fight at the national level but are wrestling among themselves in the states.

Madhya Pradesh is scheduled to undergo assembly polls on November 17 and the counting of votes will take place on December 3.