After Mayawati’s snub to Congress, Akhilesh asks grand old party to show magnanimity

Akhilesh Yadav said other parties would declare their candidates if the alliance was delayed, and so the Congress should take steps to form it.

Shortly after Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati on Wednesday ruled out any alliance with the Congress for assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav said the Congress should show magnanimity to form a grand-alliance of like-minded parties for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Congress should take all the non-BJP parties along as the formation of grand alliance is its responsibility, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav said. (PTI File Photo)

“The Congress should take all the non-BJP parties along as the formation of grand alliance is its responsibility. The Congress should fight the election in a coalition with the like-minded parties,” Yadav told reporters in Lucknow.

“I am saying even today that the Congress should show its large-heartedness, and it should contest elections by taking along all the political parties who have similar thoughts and ideology,” yadav said.

He said other parties would declare their candidates if the alliance was delayed, and so the Congress should take steps to form it, he said.

He warned that any delay would endanger the formation of a grand alliance.

“If there is any delay, then there is a possibility that other parties may declare their candidates. After this, they (Congress) will be levelling allegations that they colluded with the BJP,” Yadav said.