After Mayawati, Akhilesh snubs Congress, says will hold talks with BSP for Madhya Pradesh polls

In yet another jolt to Congress party, former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday snubbed Congress Party after BSP chief Mayawati's decision to go alone in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh.

"Congress has made us wait for long. We will hold talks with BSP," said Akhilesh Yadav on possible alliance with BSP for Madhya Pradesh polls.

Akhilesh said that he will now consult the Gondwana Gantantra Party (GGP), with which they had an alliance, and the BSP for the coming assembly elections.

Akhilesh Yadav's decision is another blow to opposition's efforts to stitch a united front against the ruling BJP ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Earlier this week, Mayawati announced that her party will not forge an alliance with the Congress "at any cost" for the upcoming assembly polls in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh

"Even though the Congress chief and his mother Sonia Gandhi appeared to be in favour of an alliance, there were other "senior leaders" who worked to foil any possibility of an understanding," Mayawati had said.

However, Congress President Rahul Gandhi said that Mayawati's decision not to have an alliance with his party in Madhya Pradesh will not impact its poll prospects in the state even as he suggested that the BSP may come on board for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections..

"I don't see the BSP alliance impacting us much in Madhya Pradesh," Gandhi said while speaking at the HT Leadership Summit.

To a question on alliance talks, Gandhi said, "The alliance in state and the alliance in the Centre are very different...Mayawatiji has indicated that. We were pretty flexible in the state, in fact I was more flexible than some of our state leaders. We were in the midst of the conversation but I guess they decided to go their own way". 

However, Gandhi suggested that the BSP will form an alliance with the Congress in the 2019 general elections.

"I think in national elections parties will come together particularly in Uttar Pradesh," he said, adding the BSP has indicated that it may come on board for the 2019 elections.