In fight against BJP, Congress faces alliance hiccups in poll-bound states

An alliance with the BSP could add nearly 7-8 per cent to the Congress party's vote share in Madhya Pradesh

The Congress is currently in a tussle with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Samajwadi Party (SP) over the sharing of seats for the forthcoming assembly polls to Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

The elections to these three states, along with Mizoram, are scheduled at the end of November and the first week of December. After it had seemed that the Congress-BSP alliance had been sewn up, the BSP’s Madhya Pradesh leadership has threatened to field candidates in the state’s all 230 seats.

Similarly, an SP leader has said the Congress party needed to have a larger heart in