Lucknow: The meeting of the core group of the opposition INDIA bloc has been deferred following the refusal of its several leaders including Akhilesh Yadav to attend. Meanwhile, the Samajwadi Party has now called upon a meeting of its national executive in Lucknow on December 8 to discuss the coming Lok Sabha elections.
Earlier Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge had called upon a meeting of the core group of INDIA on Thursday in New Delhi. Top leaders of all the 28 alliance parties were invited to attend this meet. While SP president Akhilesh Yadav had decided not to attend this meet, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Jharkhan Chief Minister Hemant Soren too are planning to skip the meeting. Following this, the meeting has been deferred till December 17.
Failure over seat-sharing talks causes strained relations
The relations between two prominent parties of opposition INDIA bloc alliance, SP and Congress had turned sore due to failure of talks over seat sharing in recently held assembly polls of Madhya Pradesh. After the congress party had refused SP to give the desired number of seats in MP polls, Akhilesh Yadav had fielded 69 candidates from his party. Though the SP candidates fared badly in MP Polls, its vote share dropped to an all time low of 0.49 per cent. During the campaign in MP, leaders of both the parties had trade charges against each other which made the situation worse.
SP-Congress indulge in blame game
After the results of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh assembly polls, both SP and Congress accused each other of the debacle and victory of the BJP. While Akhilesh Yadav said that Congress paid for ego, the congress leaders advised SP to introspect its decision of contesting in MP and other states. However, SP chief has reaffirmed that INDIA would remain intact and fight unitedly with the BJP-led government. According to a senior SP leader, the national office-bearers of the party will meet on Saturday and decide the future course of action. He said that a new plan of action would be prepared regarding the coming Lok Sabha elections.
Meanwhile, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which is not a part of INDIA has called upon a meeting regarding LS Poll preparation on December 10 in Lucknow. BSP Chief Mayawati while expressing surprise over the results, said that her party is firm on going alone in the coming LS Polls.
