Mayawati tieup with Ajit Jogi in Chhattisgarh, setback to Congress

Lucknow/Bhopal: In a major blow to the Congress, BSP president Mayawati on Thursday announced that her party would tie up with the Janta Congress led by Ajit Jogi for the Chhattisgarh Assembly polls. The BSP also made clear its intentions to go it alone in Madhya Pradesh by releasing the first list of 22 candidates to take on the Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led BJP.

“The BSP will fight on 35 seats and Chhattisgarh Janta Congress will contest on 55 seats,” Ms Mayawati announced in Lucknow, declaring Mr Jogi as the alliance’s chief ministerial candidate.

There are 90 seats in the Chhattisgarh Assembly and 230 legislators in Madhya Pradesh Assembly. The BSP snub for the Congress comes at a time when the party was looking to unite Opposition parties against the ruling BJP in both Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh  and enter into a seat-sharing arrangement with the Mayawati-led party.

The BSP’s decision to dump the Congress is now likely to make the year-end Assembly polls in both the states triangular battles, benefiting the ruling BJP.

Ms Mayawati’s decisions, about the poll pact in Chhattisgarh and the announcement of her party’s first list for Madhya Pradesh, also put a question mark on the possibility of the Congress joining hands with the BSP in Rajasthan. Ms Mayawati told reporters that the BSP will ally with only those parties which are ready to allocate respectable number of seats to her party.

“The alliance partner should also be working for the upliftment of dalits and adivasis. The BJP has been in power in Chhattisgarh for the past 15 years. We will definitely stop it now,” she added.

In Chhattisgarh, the dalit population plays an important role in determining election results in regions like Janjgir-Champa, Raigarh and Bastar. Dalits form 11.6 per cent of voters. At present, the BJP has 49 MLAs and the Congress 39 in the 90-member Chhattisgarh Assembly.

Chhattisgarh Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president Bhupesh Baghel said, “Alliance talks between Congress and BSP have failed in Chhattisgarh. We had offered BSP five seats whereas Mayawati’s party wanted more.”

He, however, expressed confidence that the BSP-Janta Congress pact would not impact the Congress. “Rather, it will hurt ruling BJP in the polls,” he said.

“People in Chhattisgarh know that Mr Jogi has helped chief minister Raman Singh to come to power in the last three Assembly elections. United BSP and Janta Congress will be seen as the B-team of the BJP in the state,” he added.

Chhattisgarh BJP president Dharamlal Kaushik predicted that a triangular contest would benefit the ruling party.  “The development is a serious setback for Congress,” he observed.

Although the BSP has just one MLA in the Chhattisgarh Assembly, the party had garnered 4.27 per cent of votes in the last Assembly elections whereas the difference of votes secured by the ruling BJP and Opposition Congress was a mere 0.72 per cent.

Ms Mayawati’s decision to name 22 candidates for Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls followed collapse of talks with the Congress which was allegedly not willing to share 50 seats, as demanded by the BSP.  

In its first list announced in Bhopal, the BSP has retained three out of four of its  sitting MLAs in Madhya Pradesh. The BJP has strength of 168, while Congress has 56 MLAs in the 230-member Assembly.

Sharing BSP plans for the Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls, state  incharge Ram Achal Rajbhar told reporters, “We will field candidates in all the 230 Assembly constituencies.”

The Congress, however, sounded hopeful of entering into an electoral understanding with the BSP. “We have not yet given up hope. Negotiations between the Congress and the BSP are still on,” said a Congress spokesman.

Sources said that the BSP sought at least 50 seats out of total 230 Assembly constituencies in MP but the Congress was not willing to share more than two dozen seats.

“The BSP wanted to field candidates in all those Assembly seats where it came second in the last Assembly elections. But, the Congress found itself to be in a better position than the BSP to win a majority of these seats. Hence, the alliance talks could not make headway,” a Congress leader said.