Failure of Cong-SP alliance will pave way for lotus to bloom in UP: BJP

With the Congress and Samajwadi Party failing to forge an alliance in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh, a visibly pleased Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday asserted that this development is bound to pave way for the lotus- the party symbol of the BJP- in the state.

"I am happy that the alliance broke. Besides the Samajwadi Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Congress does not have the capacity to bring development, employment in the region. Only the BJP has the calibre to do so," BJP state president Keshav Prasad Maurya told ANI.

Sensing victory at the assembly polls, Maurya, who was named in the list of BJP's star campaigners, hoped that the failure of alliance will pave the way for the "lotus to bloom" across Uttar Pradesh.

"I can sense that the lotus of the BJP is blooming across Uttar Pradesh. Even if the SP, BSP and the Congress form an alliance, it won't have any major impact. The aim of the BJP is weed out the cancer of hooliganism, caste, nepotism from Uttar Pradesh," he said.

Meanwhile, in a clear boost to the BJP, the alliance between the Congress and the Samajwadi Party failed to take place over the matter of seat distribution, as the former was demanding more seats than the latter for the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections.

Speaking to ANI, Samajwadi Party leader Naresh Agarwal said Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav was offering 100 seats, but the Congress was not ready for less than 120 seats.

"The Chief Minister offered 100 seats to Congress, but they were not ready for less than 120 seats. We told the Congress that we have 234 sitting MLAs and we need to give them tickets as well, and since there are a few others as well, there is no chance of us fighting on less than 300 seats," Agarwal told ANI.

When asked about the BJP star campaigner's list which did not feature senior leaders like L.K. Advani and Varun Gandhi, Maurya said, "Though a few names are missing in the list, but wherever the party sees fit, it will deploy its campaigner accordingly and we have the blessings of our senior leaders as well."

Earlier, The BJP released its list of 'star campaigners' for the upcoming Polls which sported the names of several party heavyweights like Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party chief Amit Shah and other Union Ministers, but BJP MP from Sultanpur, Varun Gandhi found his name missing from the list.

Joining Varun is BJP MP Vinay Katiyar, the face of the Ram temple movement in early 1990s, who was also dropped from the list by the party.

Senior mentors of BJP, Murli Manohar Joshi and LK Advani have also not been mentioned in the list of star campaigners.

However, Varun's mother Maneka Gandhi is in the list, and so is controversial party MP Yogi Adityanath.