Deal done, SP and BSP to contest 38 seats each

The parties, however, said they would not field candidates in Amethi and Rae Bareli, represented by Congress president Rahul Gandhi and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi.

They also left two seats out of the 80 in the state for smaller allies, without naming them. But there have been talks with Ajit Singh’s Rashtriya Lok Dal.

Making the announcement jointly with SP president Akhilesh Yadav in Lucknow, BSP chief Mayawati mocked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah. 

“This press conference will rob the guru-chela of their sleep,” she said. “I have full confidence that just as our alliance defeated the BJP in the Lok Sabha bypolls, we will crush the saffron party in the general elections,” she said, referring to the BJP’s defeat in Phulpur, Gorakhpur and Kairana parliamentary bypolls.

 Now on a visit to Dubai, Congress president Rahul Gandhi told reporters there that the SP and the BSP had the right to take the political decision, but his party will fight the polls in Uttar Pradesh with its “full capacity”.

Explaining why the Congress was not included in the alliance, Mayawati said during that party’s rule over the years, poverty, unemployment and corruption grew and there were scams in defence deals. 

“Just as the Bofors scam uprooted the Congress, the BJP will witness the same fate because of its involvement in the Rafale scam,” she said, referring to the graft allegations against the ruling party in a deal for French military aircraft.

She also said her party has not benefitted in seat-sharing pacts with the Congress. However, Akhilesh Yadav avoided a direct reply when asked if he would support Mayawati for the prime minister’s post if the situation arose.

 “You know whom I will support,” he said. “I have said in the past that UP has always given the PM (to the country) and I will be happy if it gives a Prime Minister again.”

new delhi: Hitting back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his remarks that people have to chose between a “majboor” (helpless) and a “majboot” (strong) government in the upcoming general election, the Congress on Saturday said the 2019 Lok Sabha polls would be a fight between dictatorship and democracy.

On Modi’s attack on states ruled by Opposition parties for withdrawing the general consent to the CBI and his remarks that he had not resorted to such a measure when he was targeted by central agencies under the UPA rule, Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari retorted, saying investigating bodies were not used as a political tool under his party’s rule to target rivals.

Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh have withdrawn the general consent to the CBI in these states.

Tewari said, while in his over-an-hour-long speech, Modi spoke on a host of issues, including launching several attacks on the Congress, he skipped key “achievements” like demonetisation, the employment he had promised to generate and the agrarian distress across the country.

The Congress leader’s remarks came in response to Modi’s assertion at the BJP national convention that the Opposition parties were coming together as they wanted to form a “majboor” government to promote nepotism and corruption, whereas the saffron party wanted a “majboot” dispensation for an all-round development of the country.