Lok Sabha Polls 2019: Ready to forge alliance with Congress, says Shivpal Yadav

A Day after Bahujan Samaj Party and Samajwadi Party announced their alliance for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls 2019, Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party-Lohia president Shivpal Singh Yadav today said that his party is ready to form an alliance with the Congress in Uttar Pradesh.

“There have been no talks with the Congress about the alliance yet. Congress is also a secular party and if it approaches us to defeat BJP, we will lend our support,” Shivpal Yadav said. Talking to news agency ANI, Yadav termed BSP-SP alliance as Thugbandhan (alliance among thugs). “This alliance is a Thugbandhan and is for money. It is possible money have been taken before forging this alliance,” he added.

Yadav also showed interest in forming an alliance with any secular party including the Congress to oust BJP out of power in 2019 polls. “No alliance can defeat the BJP without the support of the PSPL, Bahujan Mukti Party and our other alliances. We are ready to form an alliance with other secular parties to keep the BJP out of power,” he said.

The Congress party, on the other hand, said it would go it alone on all the 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state in the upcoming general election after they were left out from the SP-BSP alliance. Congress general secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh Ghulam Nabi Azad, however, said his party would accommodate any secular force that can take on the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Lok Sabha polls.

The meeting of the Congress was held a day after the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) announced their alliance in Uttar Pradesh, sharing 38 seats each and leaving two seats for the smaller parties, besides leaving Rae Bareli and Amethi for United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Congress chief Rahul Gandhi respectively.

Speaking to reporters here, Azad said, "The Congress will contest on all the 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh and defeat the BJP." He also expressed hope that the Grand Old Party would double the tally of 21 seats it had secured in the state in the 2009 general election.

(With Agency Inputs)