New Delhi: Congress party Chief Rahul Gandhi said that he expected tie-up with Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) for the upcoming General elections in 2019 rather than opting out of an alliance with Congress ahead of state polls.
Speaking at Hindustan Times Leadership summit, Gandhi said alliances in the states are different from those at the national level.
“Mayawatiji has sort of indicated that. I think in the national elections, the parties will come together, particularly in Uttar Pradesh,” he said.
Earlier Mayawati had accused Congress of being arrogant and adamant for not listening to its demand during the seat-sharing negotiations.
She had maintained that both Gandhi and the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi’s intentions in having an alliance with the BSP were honest.
She accused senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh of “sabotaging” the tie-up between the parties.
Rahul Gandhi insisted the Congress was accommodating in terms of seat adjustments in the poll-bound states.
“We were pretty flexible in the states. In fact, I was more flexible than some of our state leaders. But in the midst of conversation, they decided to go their own way,” said Rahul on discussing seat adjustments in the poll-bound state.
According to sources, BSP had demanded 50 seats out of 230 seats in MP and 15 out of 90 seats in Chhattisgarh but Congress was willing to grant 9 seats in Chhattisgarh and 20-22 seats in MP.
Now the Congress chief is pretty hopeful that his party will win assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh and also Telangana, which shall go to polls in the next few months.
“We are pretty confident…. I do not see the [lack of a] BSP alliance impacting us much in Madhya Pradesh. It would have been a good thing to have but we will win the elections in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh,” he said.
During the discussions with alliance partners, Gandhi said that alliance is a two-stage process. Explaining that, he said, “Stage one is to get together to defeat the BJP and stage two is once the elections are over, we will decide what happens. But we really do not know now what will happen then,” he said.
When pressed further, the Congress chief said, “If they want me yes sure I will [be the prime ministerial candidate].”