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In his first reaction after BSP supremo Mayawati pulled out of her alliance with the Congress in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, Congress president Rahul Gandhi has said BSP chief Mayawati’s decision not to have an alliance with his party in Madhya Pradesh will not impact its poll prospects in the state .
Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati announced early this week to the surprise of many opposition parties who are keen to form an anti- BJP front, that her party will not forge an alliance with the Congress “at any cost” for the upcoming assembly polls in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, dealing a blow to opposition’s efforts to stitch a united front against the ruling BJP ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
“I don’t see the BSP alliance impacting us much in Madhya Pradesh,” Gandhi said while speaking at the HT Leadership Summit in New Delhi. However, he said it would have been better to have an alliance and expressed confidence that the party will win upcoming assembly elections in all states — Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Telangana. To a question on alliance talks, Gandhi said,
“The alliance in state and the alliance in the Centre are very different… Mayawatiji has indicated that. We were pretty flexible in the state, in fact I was more flexible than some of our state leaders. We were in the midst of the conversation but I guess they decided to go their own way”.
However, Gandhi suggested that the BSP will form an alliance with the Congress in the 2019 general elections. “I think in national elections parties will come together particularly in Uttar Pradesh,” he said, adding the BSP has indicated that it may come on board for the 2019 elections.
