Alliance with SP will not help Congress in UP: Mayawati

Lucknow: Accusing Akhilesh Yadav's government of shielding criminals and communal forces, BSP chief Mayawati on Saturday said Congress' attempted tie-up with ruling Samajwadi Party showed its political bankruptcy and will be inimical to party that is "running on oxygen support" in Uttar Pradesh.

She alleged that Congress was kowtowing to Samajwadi Party by accepting "tainted" Akhilesh Yadav as the chief ministerial candidate and claimed several Congress leaders have come to BSP after talks for an alliance between the two parties for the upcoming Assembly polls.

"I will like to tell the Congress that if they consider themselves as secular, they should not go along with SP. Keeping their future in mind, they should either go it alone or with smaller secular parties in the Assembly polls," Mayawati told mediapersons in Lucknow.

Attacking Samajwadi Party, she alleged the party has been shielding criminals and communal forces and has a clear understanding with the BJP.

She also claimed that the infighting in Mulayam Singh Yadav's clan was a mere "drama" enacted by the SP patriarch in which his brother Shivpal Yadav was made a scapegoat to divert the attention of people from the "failures" of his son and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.

"Congress appears to have totally bowed before the SP by accepting the tainted face of Akhilesh Yadav as the chief ministerial candiate. It shows Congress' political bankruptcy.

"Now people are asking whether Congress was preparing for a fight against the BJP with such a tainted face," she said, adding that it is known that in Bihar, Nitish Kumar had somehow saved the Congress.

"People are asking as to how Congress will face the secular people of Uttar Pradesh," she said.

The BSP chief said that the "real selfish face" of Congress has been exposed at election time and the top leadership of Congress has proved that "this party is running on oxygen support" in UP.

"It is a reality that Congress is in such a bad shape in UP that despite the 'rath yatra' and 'khat sabhas' by its top leadership, it is not easily getting candidates for the Assembly elections", she said.

Highlighting the contradictions in the alliance, she said Congressmen who have been facing problems during the past five years and fighting against "jungleraj" will not vote for SP candidates.