Amid an escalation between the Samajwadi Party and Congress over seat-sharing in Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls, Union Minister Nityanand Rai on Sunday took a dig at Akhilesh Yadav, saying that SP chief took little time to understand the grand old party, adding that soon Lalu Yadav and Nitish Kumar will also realize.
"Akhilesh Yadav took little time to understand and he understood the Congress now, but we are already aware of the Congress. The reason behind the partition of India was poverty and an environment of hatred, Congress was never bothered about peace, unity, sovereignty, prosperity, or the welfare of the people," Nityanand Rai said.
Union Minister further alleged that Congress has always tried to murder democracy.
" Akhilesh has understood, and soon Lalu Yadav and Nitish Kumar will also realize what the Congress is. The whole nation has understood, only these people are understanding so late," he added.
Earlier, tension rose within the INDIA bloc as Congress's Uttar Pradesh unit chief Ajay Rai asked the SP to withdraw from Madhya Pradesh in favour of the grand old party as the Akhilesh Yadav-led party, he said, did not have any base there.
Congress leader Ajay Rai said, "If you (Akhilesh Yadav) are a part of the INDIA alliance, then you will have to see what the situation is in each state. In Madhya Pradesh, there is a fight between Congress and the BJP, so SP should be supportive (to Congress). They had only one MLA and there he also joined the BJP."
In this response, the Samajwadi Party (SP) President slammed Congress leader Ajay Rai for suggesting the SP should support his party in the upcoming Madhya Pradesh Assembly election.
SP chief, upset over Congress "turning its back" on seat-sharing in Madhya Pradesh, said, "I want to tell the Congress, don't talk about our party through your 'Chirkut' leaders."
He further said he was unaware of the fact that the INDIA bloc has been formed at the national level to defeat the BJP and the alliance partners are not fighting together at the state level.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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