Cong Strikes Conciliatory Note After Akhilesh Yadav’s Snub Over MP

Akhilesh Yadav was upset with the Congress over the SP MLA in MP not getting a Cabinet berth.

Akhilesh Yadav and Rahul Gandhi.

(Photo: PTI)

The Congress on Thursday, 27 December, struck a conciliatory note after Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav's remark expressing discontent with the Congress over his party's lone MLA in Madhya Pradesh not getting a ministerial post in the state Cabinet. The SP had decided to support the Congress in Madhya Pradesh after the latter won 114 seats, one short of the majority.

Speaking to ANI on Thursday, Congress leader Raj Babbar said the leadership of the two parties will sort out the various issues by talking among each other.

“The statement made by the Samajwadi Party chief shows his anger. One never gets upset with those who are estranged. The leadership of the Congress and the SP will sort out such issues by talking among themselves. The public wants that all of us fight the elections together.”

Raj Babbar, Congress leader in UP

Babbar's remark came after Akhilesh Yadav had remarked, "All the better. We thank the Congress for not making our MLA a minister in Madhya Pradesh."

Talking to the media, the former UP Chief Minister said that by doing so, the Congress had "cleared the path for UP."

Growing Disenchantment

This statement from 45-year-old Akhilesh Yadav was seen as another indication of the growing disenchantment of the SP from the Congress and the likelihood of the Congress being kept out of the proposed "grand alliance" in Uttar Pradesh for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Meanwhile, Yadav had on Wednesday, congratulated Telangana CM K Chandrashekar Rao for his efforts to bring all parties together, adding that he will visit Hyderabad to meet him after 6 January as he could not meet him in Delhi as planned earlier.

The Telangana CM has been rallying to form a federal front against the BJP and the Congress.

SP-BSP to Come Together Again?

According to Hindustan Times, the former UP chief minister said that BSP and SP have allied before for bypolls in the state. "When we allied for bypolls in UP, remember what all BJP had said about our alliance,” said Yadav.

“I had thanked them many times before and thank them again now. They had called us even backwards.”

(With inputs from ANI, IANS, PTI and Hindustan Times)