Cracks widen in I.N.D.I.A as Akhilesh says Cong 'cheated' Samajwadi Party

Akhilesh came down heavily upon UP Congress head for latter's allegation that SP had 'betrayed' the grand old party by not withdrawing from the recently concluded bypoll at Bageshwar assembly seat in Uttarakhand.

Lucknow: Cracks in the  I.N.D.I.A (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) widened further in the politically crucial state of Uttar Pradesh after Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav said that Congress had "cheated" his party and accused the grand old party leaders of having a ''tacit understanding'' with the BJP. Akhilesh was apparently irked over Congress' failure to leave seats for the SP for the Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls.

''Congress leaders are making a fool of us.....it has cheated us....had we known that the I.N.D.I.A alliance is not for Assembly polls, we would not have sent SP leaders to meet former MP chief minister Kamal Nath....we were assured six seats in MP but nothing was given to us,'' Akhilesh told reporters in Sitapur on Thursday.

''Ye log (Congress leaders) BJP se mile hue hain Congress leaders have tacit understanding with the BJP)," a visibly upset Akhilesh said. He also vowed to respond to the Congress in the same fashion. ''We will also do what the Congress did to us,'' he remarked.

Akhilesh came down heavily upon UP Congress president Ajay Rai for latter's allegation that SP had "betrayed" the grand old party by not withdrawing from the recently concluded bypoll at Bageshwar assembly seat in Uttarakhand leading to the defeat of the Congress candidate to the BJP and also that Congress was ready to contest from all the 80 Lok Sabha seats in UP.

''Such leaders (Ajay Rai) have no standing.....ask him (Rai) if he was present at I.N.D.I.A leaders' meeting at Mumbai.....he doesn't know anything,'' the SP president said and termed Rai a "chirkut" (low level leader).

Akhilesh's outbursts came close on the heels of the SP asking the grand old party to give the former the list of the seats it wanted to contest. The SP leadership also asked the Congress to reveal the names of its prospective candidates who will be contesting from those LS seats in the state.

''Merely demanding a particular number of seats is not enough.....Congress should tell us which are the seats it wants to contest and who will be its candidates so that we can assess if those seats can be won by the party (Congress),'' a senior SP leader here had said. 

Akhilesh had also said a few days ago that his party would not ask the I.N.D.I.A alliance to give seats to it. ''Instead we will give seats to the alliance partners,'' he had remarked.

UP Congress president Ajay Rai and the SP leaders were also engaged in a verbal duel on the issue recently. Rai had then said that his party was ready to contest from all the 80 Lok Sabha seats in the next general elections.