Akhilesh: “Twice supported Congress to form the Madhya Pradesh government”

Akhilesh Yadav, the leader of the Samajwadi Party, a member of the INDIA bloc, said on Saturday that his party offered assistance to the grand old party to form their government in the election-bound state not once, but twice, amid a dispute with the Congress over seat-sharing in Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections.

The leader of the Samajwadi Party claimed that his party won one seat in the 2018 elections for Madhya Pradesh, and that thanks to their backing, the Congress was able to create its government.

“We only had one MLA, and we finished second in five seats. The Samajwadi Party was the first to support Congress when they needed it. As a consequence, Madhya Pradesh now has a Congress-led government. Akhilesh Yadav said during his interaction with media here in Hardoi that the Samajwadi Party MLA backed Congress unconditionally when the necessity came once again.

The SP ran for 52 seats in the 2018 Madhya Pradesh elections, winning Bijawar, and placing second in five other seats, garnering 1.30 percent of the vote.

Congress and Yadav’s party are currently at odds in Madhya Pradesh because Congress refused to give any seats to the SP despite discussions about seat sharing. The SP and Congress are both members of the alliance committed to putting forth a united front against the Bharatiya Janata Party in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections under the INDIA banner.

Akhilesh Yadav questioned who would support Congress if they continued to act in this way earlier on Thursday after realizing that the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance is limited to the national level.

“Congress should have made this clear sooner if they didn’t want to distribute seats (in MP). The SP’s current priority is reserving seats. I now see that the INDIA coalition is created for national-level (parliamentary) elections as a result of the Madhya Pradesh experience. Who will support Congress if they continue to take this stance is a concern. Our prospects of victory would decline if we go up against the BJP in an unknown manner,” he said.

The BJP, which is keeping a careful eye on the events, is making fun of both parties by implying that they have banded together to fight at the federal level while fighting between themselves in the states.

Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh are set for November 17, with the vote count taking place on December 3.