Alliance only if BSP gets respectable seats: Mayawati’s clear-cut message to Congress

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Tuesday passed on a clear-cut message to the Congress by saying that her party will contest upcoming Assembly elections in coalition only if it gets a respectable number of seats.

“The Bahujan Samaj Party will contest elections as a part of coalition government only if it gets a respectable number of seats,” the BSP chief said in a statement.

The states of Rajasthan, Chattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh will go to polls later in 2018.

While Congress leaders in Chattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh feel that an alliance with the BSP will be beneficial for them in the coming elections, leaders of Rajasthan claimed that it will hurt the party in the long run.

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Mayawati, who recently warned her party leaders against speaking publically on the pre-poll alliance, gave similar advice to the Congress leaders making statements on the possible Congress-BSP coalition.

“The Bahujan Samaj Party wants to tell Congress leaders giving reactions about an alliance with the BSP in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh that the same condition applies to Congress as well,” she said.

In June 2018, a Congress leader had said that they will reach out to Mayawati for a possible tie-up to take on the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in upcoming Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections.

However, state BSP president Narmada Prasad Ahirwar dismissed possibilities of alliance with the Congress and said that the party will contest elections on all 230 seats in Madhya Pradesh.

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