So finally, we can say that a ‘bitter end to sweet bromance’ has come as Akhilesh Yadav dumps Rahul Gandhi. Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Samajwadi Party leader has given clear indications that there won’t be any coalition with the Indian National Congress for the 2019 General Elections.
Talking to the media in Madhya Pradesh Akhilesh Yadav said, “Whatever the Congress Party has done is good. They think that they have a bigger party in democracy and we aren’t anything. This at least paved a way for us to form a new party. Congress party thinks that we cannot do anything without them. The country needs third option.”
He further added, ‘roti tabhi achhi sikegi jab bar-bar badli jayegi, ek baar BJP aur ek baar Congress ne Madhya pradesh mein roti jala di hai’.
With this statement he was trying to send a message to the people that it would be better if everyone is given a chance to run the government and not just Congress or the Bharatiya Janata Party should continue taking the top positions.
Yadav expressed his despondency regarding ticket distribution with Congress in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh and said that the country needs a third front. In addition to this, he said that no party will defeat Bhartiya Janta Party but it’s the people who will do. He further added that the farmers and youth are annoyed with the BJP but when the Congress talks about farmers, it should also give account of 42 years that it ruled in Madhya Pradesh.
The first big blow that Akhilesh Yadav gave to the Congress was in Chhattisgarh, the SP chief while addressing a rally had shown his dissent towards the mega-alliance giving clear signals that SP and Congress aren’t hand in glove anymore.
While his attack on BJP was expectedly straightforward, his scathing attack on Rahul Gandhi got eyeballs. Again while addressing a rally at Durg in Chhatisgarh he said, “Humne bhi tay kar liya hai ki cycle ko rokoge to aapka haath (Congress’ symbol) handle se hta diya jaayega, control aur kisi ke haath mein hojayega”. (if you try to stop our ‘cycle’ we will remove your ‘hand’ from the handle and the control will be in other hands).
Earlier, Yadav had cautioned the Congress president on his controversial hug-diplomacy wherein he had embraced Prime Minister Narendra Modi after speaking on the no-confidence motion in the Lok Sabha.
In a tweet, the Samajwadi Party (SP) chief referred to a famous Urdu couplet penned by late poet Bashir Badr: ‘Koi haath bhi na milayega, jo gale miloge tapaak se, ye naye mijaaz ka shahar hai, zara fasle se mila karo’ (If you promptly embrace someone, he will not even shake hands, this is a city of new ways, be careful and keep a distance while meeting someone).
All this moves by Akhilesh Yadav comes as a shocker as it was the Samajwadi Party that fought the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections in coalition with the Congress party with slogans like ‘cycle ko haath pasand hai, UP ko ye saath pasand hai’ making rounds in the state. Meanwhile, the coalition could only manage 54 seats in total, registering their worst performance in the state till date.
Akhilesh Yadav and Rahul Gandhi were also seen sharing stage during the oath- taking ceremony of HD Kumaraswamy as Chief Minister of Karnataka and it seemed that the two ‘youngsters of Indian politics’ would walk hand-in-hand again in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. But Samajwadi Party finally has pulled itself out of the so called ‘mahagatbandhan’ leaving Congress in doldrums. In the recent past, Mayawati too withdrew her support from the Congress as she categorically ruled out allying with the latter in the ongoing state elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.
It seems that the days of Mahagathbandhan or the Grand Alliance are numbered as it already shows cracks with prominent faces abandoning the idea.
