Mayawati, Akhilesh snub Congress for saying it will leave 7 seats for them

BSP chief Mayawati and Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Monday snubbed the Congress for saying that it will leave 7 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh for the coalition of the SP-BSP-RLD coalition.

Both Mayawati and Akhilesh asserted that they don't need the Congress support and asked the Rahul Gandhi-led party not to create "confusion".

The Congress on Sunday had announced that it would leave seven Lok Sabha seats for SP, BSP and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) in Uttar Pradesh where 80 seats are at stake in the upcoming polls.

"The Congress is fully free in Uttar Pradesh and should field its own candidates for contesting all the 80 Lok Sabha seats. Our alliance (SP-BSP-RLD) alone is capable of defeating the BJP," Mayawati tweeted.

"The Congress should not forcibly spread rumours by leaving seven seats in UP for the SP-BSP alliance," the former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister added.

Hours later, Akhilesh also tweeted, "SP-BSP-RLD alliance in Uttar Pradesh is capable of defeating the BJP. The Congress should not create any confusion."

As per the seat-sharing agreement, the SP is contesting 37 seats and BSP 38. Three seats have been given to the RLD -- Mathura, Muzaffarnagar, and Baghpat.

The alliance has left Rae Bareli and Amethi seats for the Congress as these are the constituencies of UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Congress President Rahul Gandhi.

In an apparent reciprocal gesture, UP Congress chief Raj Babbar yesterday said his party would not field any candidates at the seats from where Akhilesh's family members would be contesting, like Mainpuri, Kannauj and Firozabad.

The Congress also will not field any candidates at the seats from where Mayawati, RLD chief Ajit Singh and his son Jayant Chaudhary would be contesting.

Mayawati, in her tweets, also asserted that her party is not in alliance with the Congress in any state and asked her party cadres not to pay heed to the "rumours spread by the Congress".

"BSP once again wants to make it very clear that in Uttar Pradesh, and in the country as a whole, we are not in any form of alliance or agreement with the Congress. Our people should not pay heed to the rumours spread by the Congress," she said.

The Lok Sabha elections have been scheduled to start from April 11 and will go on till May 19 in seven phases. The polls in Uttar Pradesh will be held in all seven phases. The counting of votes will take place on May 23.