Doors open for a tie up with SP, BSP in LS polls: Congress

New Delhi: After the poor show by the Congress in the recent Lok Sabha bypolls in Phulpur and Gorakhpur, the Congress on Thursday said doors for a tie up with the Samajwadi party and the BSP for the Lok Sabha polls were open.Talking to reporters here, AICC spokesperson and UP Congress chief Raj Babbar said notwithstanding the poor show in the bypolls, his party would have a significant role to play in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

The elections, which were fought by the SP in alliance with the BSP, proved to be a major setback for the BJP, which lost both the seats to the SP-BSP canddiate.However, the Congress, which fought the elections independently, faired poorly with its candidates losing their deposits in the elections.Mr Raj Babbar said that despite the fact that the Congress did not go for an alliance with the Samajwadi party and the BSP in these elections, his party continued to have good relations with the SP and the BSP and that doors for a tie up with them for the Lok Sabha polls were open.

'We have good relations with the SP and the BSP. Doors are open for a tie up with them. However, a decision on the issue (tie up with SP and BSP) will be taken by the top leadership of the Congress,' he said.In reply to a question, he said that 'one thing is certain that the role of the Congress in the elections will not be insignificant'.
Defending his party's decision to go it alone in the bypolls, Mr Babbar said,'the party had taken the initiative for a tie up with the SP and the BSP. However, BSP chief Mayawati said she did not believe in an alliance with any party.. The party had even offered to the SP that both parties should fight one one seat each but no reply came on the issue from the SP.

However, later the SP and the BSP decided to go in for an alliance. If the party had announced withdrawal of its candidates from both seats, it would have led to resentment among the party workers.'On the bypoll results, he said, 'the results only prove that there is a sentiment across the country to defeat the BJP. The farmers, the youth and the common man are unhappy with the BJP over the non fulfilment of the promises made by them during the Lok Sabha elections.
That is the reason why it has had to taste defeat in all the Lok Sabha bypolls held in the last two years.'

In a huge blow to the ruling BJP, the Samajwadi Party on Wednesday won both the Lok Sabha seats of Gorakhpur and Phulpur which were vacated by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and his deputy Keshav Prasad Maurya.With the Bahujan Samaj Party backing its bitter rival Samajwadi Party, the Bharatiya Janata Party suffered a shock defeat in both the constituencies.In the Bihar bypolls, RJD retained the Jehanabad assembly seat while BJP was able to hold on to the Bhabhua assembly seat and the RJD won the Lok Sabha bypolls from Araria.(UNI)