Mayawati with Sonia and Rahul Gandhis. (Arijit Sen/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati announced a tie-up with Janta Congress Chhattisgarh which is led by ex-Chief Minister Ajit Jogi for the upcoming Assembly polls in Chhattisgarh. Jogi was incidentally the first Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh and was part of the Congress party at the time before falling out and starting his own party.
The news of the tie-up comes as a particularly bad blow for the Congress’ efforts to tie-up with the BSP for the forthcoming Assembly elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh as Mayawati had pushed for an alliance in all three states or none. It is being reported that the BSP would contest from 35 seats while Jogi’s party would stand from 55 seats with Ajit Jogi being the Chief Ministerial face for the combine.
A joint statement issued by both Mayawati and Jogi said that “there has been unbalanced development in Chhattisgarh in the last 15 years. Both the BJP and Congress state leaders have been dependent on the Centre for decisions and this has always compromised the interests of the people of the state”.
Chhattisgarh has traditionally been a very close contest between the BJP and the Congress, even with Ajit Jogi at the latter’s helm. Now with Jogi gone, and with no support from BSP either, the poll fight is seemingly much more tough for the Congress.
Also Read: Can Congress Atop Elephant Stop BJP Juggernaut In Madhya Pradesh?
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