Akhilesh hints at Opposition alliance in UP, doesn't comment about Congress

Akhilesh Yadav this week criticised the Congress government in Madhya Pradesh for not making the lone SP lone legislator in the state a minister.

Former chief minister Yadav on Sunday indicated his Samajwadi Party (SP) might form an alliance with Opposition parties in Uttar Pradesh before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections but didn’t comment if the Congress will have a role.

"In UP, there will be sangam (confluence) of people and sangam of thoughts, and very soon it will be in front of you," news agency PTI quoted Yadav as saying in Lucknow.

"I said that there will be sangam of people and thoughts. All answers are included in this," he told reporters who asked him about the Congress.

Yadav this week criticised the Congress government in Madhya Pradesh for not making the lone SP lone legislator in the state a minister, saying the decision was not good for efforts to form an Opposition grand alliance or mahagathbandhan ahead of the 2019 elections.

The Congress could muster a majority in the Madhya Pradesh assembly after getting the support of SP and Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which won two seats in the assembly elections.

The SP and BSP have been playing hardball with Congress after the national opposition party won elections in MP, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, dislodging Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) governments.