'Won't Ally With Big Parties': Uttar Pradesh Congress Chief Ajay Kumar Lallu

Lallu said that Congress would tie up only with smaller parties in the state for the upcoming UP polls

Uttar Pradesh Congress Chief Ajay Kumar Lallu on Sunday, 5 September, ruled out the possibility of his party forming an alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Samajwadi Party (SP) in the upcoming UP state Assembly polls.

According to the news agency PTI, Lallu said that Congress would tie up only with smaller parties in the state.

I will not even think about joining hands with big parties for Uttar Pradesh polls. Previous governments headed by the BJP, SP, BSP failed to live up to people’s trust.

Lallu told PTI

Confident of Winning Election, Says Lallu

Speaking in a interview with news agency PTI, Lallu said that the Congress was all set to make a comeback in the state and added that in the eyes of Uttar Pradesh people, Congress was the main challenger of the BJP in the upcoming polls.

Besides, he also expressed confidence that his party would win the elections under the leadership of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and form the next government. While he said that he was in touch with some smaller parties, he did not go into the details of the possible alliances.

Responding to the reactions of BSP and SP to a recent booklet released by the Congress which highlighted the misrule under the non-Congress governments in the past three decades he categorically said that the Congress will align with small parties on the issues of poor, farmers, youth and women's safety.

SP and BSP have also ruled out the possibility of a tie up with the Congress. While SP's Akhilesh Yadav has said his party will form alliance with only smaller parties, Mayawati has asserted that BSP will go solo in the elections.

Lallu told PTI that he is fully confident that in the aspects of strength, organisation and struggle, Congress is the voice of the poor, farmers, youth, labourers and for women's safety

'Congress Believes that Caste Census Should be Carried Out'

The state's Congress chief also asserted that people would choose Congress as they were angry with the BJP for issues such as the "rise in prices", unemployment, "plight of farmers" and "murder of democracy"

Answering to a question about the demand of caste census by several Opposition parties and Congress's stand on the issue, Lallu said the Congress believes Caste Census should be done, although the BJP does not want it. He added that his party stands in the favour of the caste census. He alleged that Congress had got it done previously under the UPA rule, however after BJP came to power, they stopped publishing the data, he said.

(With inputs from PTI)