Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The rift between the Congress and the Samajwadi Party (SP) over seat adjustments for the assembly election in Madhya Pradesh has deepened.
MPCC president Kamal Nath’s statement, that INDIA bloc is only at the national level and that it has nothing to do in the state, has angered the SP national president, Akhilesh Yadav.
Yadav’s anger also created a chasm in INDIA bloc. Yadav said that had he known that there was no understanding in state, he would have never met the Congress leaders.
If the MPCC does not want to have ties with SP, the same thing will happen in UP election, he said. Yadav said former chief minister had assured him of considering seat-sharing in six constituencies of which the party won a few in the last election.
In some seats, the SP candidates were in the second position, Yadav said, adding that when the Congress announced its list it contained nothing for his party. It seems that he may have been confused at the meeting of INDIA bloc, and if he knew that there was no understanding in states, he would have never given a list of party candidates to the Congress, Yadav said. The Congress leaders do not even take the phone calls, and his party will reciprocate in the same way as the Congress did, Yadav said. According to sources, at a meeting with the SP leaders Nath assured them of giving six seats.
There was an agreement between the two parties that on a few seats the Congress leaders would contest the election on SP poll symbol. After the meeting with SP, when Nath spoke to the Congress leaders, they did not agree to fight election on the SP symbol, and, for this reason, the alliance did not translate into reality.