SP blames Kamal Nath’s jibe at Akhilesh for rout in M.P.

The Congress office in Lucknow wears a deserted look on Sunday after results of Assembly polls of four States came in. SANDEEP SAXENA THE HINDU BUREAU LUCKNOW The Samajwadi Party (SP) on Sunday blamed Madhya Pradesh Congress chief Kamal Nath’s “indecent remarks” against its president Akhilesh Yadav for the rout of the party in the Assembly poll on Sunday. The SP, however, indicated it will fight the 2024 Lok Sabha poll along with the Congress under the banner of the INDIA bloc. “Ramdhari Singh Dinkar (a Hindi poet) famously said ‘Jab naash manuj par chhata hai, pehle vivek mar jaata hai (When destruction befalls a person, wisdom dies first)’. Kamal Nathji had called the SP chief ‘Akhilesh-Vakhilesh’. It not only hurt the people of Madhya Pradesh, but also those from the backward classes. This result is the defeat of their ego. It is true for the other places, too, where the party lost; their leaders became egoistic,” SP spokesperson Manoj Singh Yadav said. The remarks came at a time when there were reports of a deadlock between the INDIA bloc allies following lack of consensus on seat sharing in the election. The SP chief had then said, “the Congress should not deceive the Samajwadi Party because it is the first party to fight the BJP in Uttar Pradesh. When the Congress needs it, the SP will be useful to it”. The SP spokesperson said the party had demanded five seats, but “they insulted our leaders”. “If you cannot give five seats to the backward classes then how will they get votes?” he said. The Congress, he added, is continuously humiliating Dalits, the backward classes, and the marginalised sections of society. “In U.P. they removed a Dalit as the State party president,” he said, referring to State Congress president Ajay Rai replacing Brijlal Khabri. He added that the election verdict is the culmination of such acts. However, Rajendra Chaudhary, another SP chief spokesperson, took a soft stance towards the Congress. “Both the Congress and the SP are fighting to save democracy. We will continue the fight.” Targeting the BJP, he said the party is a “threat to democracy”. On whether the SP will contest the Lok Sabha election with the Congress under the INDIA alliance, Mr. Chaudhary said, “The way democracy is being hurt is not right.”