In a big blow to Congress, Former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav has shown his dissent towards the mega-alliance (mahagatbandhan) showing clear signals that SP and Congress aren’t hand in glove anymore.
Recently, while addressing a rally at Chhattisgarh Akhilesh Yadav was clearly agitated. While his attack on BJP was expectedly straightforward but what got eyeballs was his scathing attack on Rahul Gandhi.
This move 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. Sadly, the coalition could only manage 54 seats in total, registering their worst performance in the state till date.
Akhilesh Yadav and Rahul Gandhi were seen sharing stage during the oath- taking ceremony of HD Kumaraswamy as Chief Minister of Karnataka as it seemed like the two ‘youngsters of Indian politics’ would walk hand-in-hand in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. But, it seemed that fate had something else in store for Congress and Rahul Gandhi as Samajwadi Party pulled itself out of the so called ‘mahagatbandhan’.
In the recent past, Mayawati had decided to withdraw 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. She parted her ways with Congress in Chhattisgarh, only to join hands with Ajit Jogi’s Janta Congress Chhattisgarh. Giving another blow to the Congress Party she decided not to ally with them for Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh blaming the eternal motormouth Digvijay Singh for her decision.
She didn’t stop here as she added much to Congress worry saying that ‘teaming up for 2019 is not an option’.
The move by the two parties goes on to signify the inability of the Congress Party President Rahul Gandhi to retain allies. The dream of a United Opposition or mahagatbandhan looks as far from reality as it can get. A senior Congress leader commenting on this development said, “This is the way to political suicide. The only way to defeat the BJP is via strategic alliances to ensure a single candidate against Shah’s party. It’s been proven over and over that the BJP wins when it ensures that the opposition vote is split.”
Well, even if Bhartiya Janta Party or Amit Shah don’t try to make efforts for a split in the opposition, it will happen automatically and organically as the incompetence of Rahul Gandhi and Congress is an open secret. The days of Mahagathbandhan seem numbered as it is already showing cracks with prominent faces abandoning the idea.