The two Bahujan Samaj Party MLAs who support the Congress government in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly have said they will not quit the party like their former colleagues in Rajasthan, PTI reported. All six BSP MLAs in Rajasthan had joined the Congress on Monday.
In the Assembly elections held last year, the Congress had emerged the largest party in both states but was just short of the majority mark. The Bahujan Samaj Party had agreed to extend its support to the Congress to help it form the government in the two states.
Sanjeev Singh Kushwaha and Rambai Singh of the Bahujan Samaj Party in Madhya Pradesh told PTI that they support the party chief Mayawati and will remain with her in the future too. “All is well here [in Madhya Pradesh],” Kushwaha told the news agency. “There is no problem.”
On whether he would switch sides like the MLAs in Rajasthan, Kushwaha said if he wants to join Congress, he will do it with “pomp and show”. “There is nothing like that now,” he added. “Nor I am going to join [the Congress] in future.”
“I am with Mayawatiji and will remain with her,” Singh said. “We are powerful in MP because of Mayawatiji. I won the election on the BSP ticket and will remain loyal to it.”
The MLAs’ decision to quit the party in Rajasthan had made Mayawati come out with strong words against the Congress. She had alleged a betrayal of the BSP movement and accused the “untrustworthy” Congress of being against marginalised communities. On Wednesday, she had accused the Congress of enabling communal forces in the country.
The Congress has 114 lawmakers in the 230-member Assembly in Madhya Pradesh. It has the support of two BSP MLAs, a Samajwadi Party MLA and four independent lawmakers.
During the Lok Sabha election, the Mayawati had declared that her party would reconsider its support to Chief Minister Kamal Nath’s government in the state after the candidate for the Guna Lok Sabha seat joined the Congress.
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