INDIA bloc’s doors are ‘open’ for BSP, says Congress’s UP in-charge Avinash Pande

NEW DELHI: INDIA bloc’s doors are “open” for the BSP and it is up to Mayawati to decide if she wants to join the united fight against the BJP in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls or not, Congress’ Uttar Pradesh in-charge Avinash Pande said on Sunday.

The Congress general secretary said the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) very much wanted the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) to join the bloc but Mayawati has already declared that she will go it alone in the Lok Sabha polls.

Pande said the Congress is “wholeheartedly” supporting the Samajwadi Party and expressed confidence that a seat-sharing deal for the Lok Sabha polls in the state will be finalised “very soon” with remaining “confusions” dispelled.

He said the Congress-SP combine is in talks with small parties in Uttar Pradesh who would also be joining the INDIA bloc to take on the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls, and asserted that everything will be sorted out by the end of this month.

“Some of them are joining unconditionally and some have some expectations and therefore it is taking a little time (for finalising the seat-sharing in UP) but everything will be sorted out by the end of this month,” he said.

On the seat-sharing talks with the Akhilesh Yadav-led SP, Pande said it is very much on positive lines and is in progress.

The Congress general secretary termed the exit of the Jayant Chaudhary-led Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) from the INDIA bloc as “very unfortunate” but exuded confidence that with the yatra also going through western Uttar Pradesh later this month, the Opposition bloc would draw people’s support from there.

People are bound to think about the causes for which Rahul Gandhi is fighting,” he said.

The yatra has boosted the morale of not only the workers but also the common people for whom this march is being undertaken, he said.