Cong's responsibility to bring smaller parties under one umbrella: Akhilesh

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Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav Tuesday said that the Congress would need to speak to the Bahujan Samaj Party as well in order to form an alliance between the three outfits.

Speaking at a press conference in Madhya Pradesh's Chhatarpur Tuesday, Yadav claimed that his party wanted an alliance with the Congress but the latter "felt" the SP was "weak".

He said that it was the Congress' responsibility, as a larger political outfit, to bring smaller parties under one umbrella.

"We wanted an alliance with the Congress but the oldest political party felt that we are weak. Now, an alliance can be formed only when the Congress talks to the BSP along with SP," Yadav said.

Yadav said that his party once had eight MLAs in the MP Assembly and its vote share was also good.

The SP has tied up with the Gondwana Gantantra Party (GGP) in Madhya Pradesh for the forthcoming Assembly polls and talks were underway with the BSP as well for a tie up, Yadav said.

The former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister expressed concern over north Indian migrants fleeing Gujarat over the past few days following attacks after a labourer hailing from Bihar was arrested on the charge of raping a 14-month-old child on September 28.

Yadav parried questions on the demand by certain groups that reservations be provided on the basis of economic status rather than caste.

He further claimed that there would be harmony in society if people unseated the ruling BJP.

The SP leader claimed that the BJP "experiments" with people, citing examples of reported hardships caused to them due to demonetisation and GST.