The Bahujan Samaj Party Chief Mayawati rejected the Congress offer of seven seats in Uttar Pradesh for SP-BSP alliance. She made two tweets ripping the Congress apart.
कांग्रेस यूपी में भी पूरी तरह से स्वतंत्र है कि वह यहाँ की सभी 80 सीटों पर अपने उम्मीदवार खड़ा करके अकेले चुनाव लड़े आर्थात हमारा यहाँ बना गठबंधन अकेले बीजेपी को पराजित करने में पूरी तरह से सक्षम है। कांग्रेस जबर्दस्ती यूपी में गठबंधन हेतु 7 सीटें छोड़ने की भ्रान्ति ना फैलाये।
— Mayawati (@Mayawati) March 18, 2019
She reiterated that her party won’t tie up with the Congress in Uttar Pradesh or anywhere else in the country.
Mayawati said, “BSP wants to make it clear one more time that along with Uttar Pradesh, in the entire country we have no understanding or alliance with the Congress at all. Our people should not fall into the trap of Congress’s daily lies and attempts to create confusion. The Congress is free to contest all 80 seats of UP, our formed grand alliance (BSP-SP) is perfectly capable of defeating the BJP on its own.”
The Congress was sidelined in Uttar Pradesh as Bahujan Samaj Party and Samajwadi Party forged an alliance for the Lok Sabha elections. The SP-BSP alliance also announced that they won’t field candidates in Amethi in Raebareli, which are Congress strongholds.
In reciprocation, the Congress announced that it will not field candidates in constituencies of Akhilesh Yadav, Mayawati and their close relatives and aides. Mayawati’s response was in this regard.
Congress chief Rahul Gandhi made clear that the Congress will fight the elections in UP “in front foot,” and would contesting in all the seats on its own strengths. To boost the party, Congress appointed Priyanka Gandhi Vadra in charge of eastern Uttar Pradesh and Jyotiraditya Scindia of western Uttar Pradesh.