Mayawati's Exit Won't Hurt, In Talks With Akhilesh Yadav: Kamal Nath

Dalit powerhouse Mayawati's shock announcement that the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) will not enter an alliance with the Congress in states for the upcoming elections, Kamal Nath, the chief of the Madhya Pradesh Congress unit, said her exit will not impact their vote share. Mr Nath said he spoke with Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav regarding the alliance.

"Mayawati breaking alliance with the Congress will not have any effect on our vote share. We will confidently fight the upcoming polls in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. I have spoken to Akhilesh Yadav regarding the alliance," Mr Nath said.

The Congress and the BSP couldn't resolve their differences over seat sharing in states after long-drawn negotiations. Mayawati had demanded 40 seats out of the 231 seats in Madhya Pradesh, but with a package deal in Rajasthan.

Kamal Nath said the BSP was demanding more seats than it deserved, which didn't sit well with the Congress.  "In 2013, (BSP) got 6.29 per cent of vote share in Madhya Pradesh assembly elections (whereas) Mayawati demanded a seat share of 50, and these seats were not those where they got over 20,000 votes. This didn't go well with us," he said.

Mayawati on Thursday called off the alliance with the Congress, saying it was trying to wipe-out BSP by offering less seats.

"In Rajasthan, the Congress was offering us only nine seats out of 200 assembly seats, in Madhya Pradesh 15-20 (out of 230 seats in the state), in Chhattisgarh only five-six seats out of 90. We have noticed that whenever we contested elections in alliance, all our votes got transferred to the Congress. The BSP loses more due to the alliance as all its votes get transferred to the Congress," she said.

"In this back drop, we think the Congress is trying to eliminate small parties like BSP in the name of wiping out the BJP," she added.

With inputs from ANI