Cracks in Mayawati-Jogi pact in Chhattisgarh

Bhopal: The newly sealed alliance between Ajit Jogi’s Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (JCC)  and Mayawati’s  Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)  appeared to be heading for a split with the latter  “unilaterally” announcing its candidates for five Lok Sabha seats in Chhattisgarh.

Mr Jogi, who founded Janata the JCC after breaking away from the Congress in 2016, appear-ed to have been completely taken aback by the development. “BSP has released lists of its candidates without consulting us. I will soon speak to the BSP chief,” Mr Jogi, who had forged alliance with BSP in the November Assembly polls in Chhattisgasrh, he told the media on Tuesday.

“As it is, my party has no stake in the LS elections nor are we keen to field candidates in the polls. It is the BSP that has high stakes in the Lok Sabha elections and chances of winning seats in Chhattisgarh. My best wishes to Behenji (Ms Mayawati),” he added.

The development comes close on the heels of Mr Jogi announcing that the JCC-BSP alliance would extend to Lok Sabha elections in Chhattisgarh too and he would soon meet Ms Mayawati to seal the seat-sharing arrangement between the two parties.

The alliance had secured seven out of 90 Assembly seats in the last year’s polls in Chhattisgarh. While the JCC bagged five seats, BSP won two seats.

The BSP declared candidates for three LS seats of Bastar (ST), Kanker (ST) and Janjgir-Champa late on Monday night. The party announced candidates for three more seats, Sarguja, Raigarh and Durg on Tuesday.

Incidentally, the Chhattisgarh unit of the BSP was still maintained that there was no rift among the alliance partners. “We have no word from Behenji as yet to snap our ties with JCC”, a spokesman said.