Senior Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan said that the decision to forge an alliance with the Congress for the upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly elections is tantamount to choosing the "lesser evil". Mr Khan's statement came on a day when Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav held a joint press conference to launch their campaign for five-phase elections, scheduled for February 11.
"We are not giving (Congress) a clean chit. We are choosing the lesser evil," Mr Khan said, referring to the Samajwadi Party's criticism of the Congress on various issues in the past. He also said that this is not a time to discuss such things, which could be answered after the elections.
"There was an experience in Bihar of a mahagathbandhan. That experiment in Bihar succeeded and there was a view among common people that there could be a coalition of like-minded people and they should come together and contest elections," the senior leader said to news agency Press Trust of India.
Mr Khan added that the Congress was a prominent force in the Indian independence movement and the Muslim community has had a long association with the party.
The Samajwadi Party leader further said that he does not know what compelled the Congress to form a coalition with the Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh and the "very agenda of BJP is against the weak, Dalits, backward and minorities".
Mr Khan also criticised the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party and said that her party should give all 403 seats to Muslim candidates if they want to win over the community.
(with inputs from PTI)
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