SP puts Congress on notice, asks it to show ‘large heart’

LUCKNOW: Just before Dalit leader Mayawati announced that Bahujan Samaj Party would not tie up with Congress for the Madhya Pradesh assembly elections, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav had also put the grand old party on notice, saying it shouldn’t waste time and must adopt a large-hearted approach towards like-minded parties to join their battle against BJP.

“The onus is on Congress to take other parties along. It should take a call on joining hands with other parties before time runs out and other parties declare their candidates,” he told reporters just before Mayawati announced her decision to go it alone in Madhya Pradesh.

Asked to respond to Congress’s allegations that Mayawati was pulling out because she was afraid of the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Akhilesh said he was not aware of what Congress had said in MP.

“What I know for a fact is that BSP is one party that is afraid of no one,” he said, and added that “it is not proper to level such allegations. Tomorrow, if I don’t enter into an alliance with some party, even I can be accused of being scared. This is not fair.”