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SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav shake hands during a joint press conference at SP office, in Lucknow on Monday. (PTI Photo)[/caption]
Lucknow, Jan. 14 (PTI): Contradictions between opposition parties won't be allowed to hamper the fight against the saffron party in the Lok Sabha elections as "the aim is same, to remove the BJP", RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav stressed Monday, seeking to downplay the Congress' exclusion from the BSP-SP alliance in Uttar Pradesh.
The Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) on Saturday announced their alliance in Uttar Pradesh, sharing 38 seats each and leaving two seats for smaller parties. They also left Rae Bareli and Amethi seats for UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Congress chief Rahul Gandhi respectively.
To a question on the Congress being left out of the alliance in UP, the RJD leader, whose party is in alliance with the grand old party in Bihar, said, "The aim is same, to defeat the BJP... all saw how the SP and BSP gave a stern reply to the BJP in the recent bypolls (in UP). The result is before everyone."
Sharing the dias with Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, the RJD leader told reporters, "You must also have seen the statement of Rahul Gandhi that whether he is there or not, BJP will not get seats and this is enough."
"We are not different... they win here, we win there, it is the same thing," Tejashwi Yadav, who also met Mayawati on Sunday, said.
The Congress on Sunday announced it would go it alone on all 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh in the upcoming general election, but stressed that it would accommodate any secular force capable of taking on the ruling BJP.
Asked who will campaign for whom during the polls hustings, Tejashwi Yadav said whoever is required will go out for campaigning in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, which are both big states.
While announcing the alliance on Saturday, Mayawati had said,"In the past I have seen that our votes get transferred to the Congress, but not vice-versa. We do not gain from an alliance with the Congress, whereas the vote transfer is perfect in an SP-BSP tie-up."
Drawing a parallel between the BJP and the Congress, the BSP chief had also said the Congress had imposed Emergency while the BJP is responsible for an undeclared Emergency.
