UP Congress chief hits back at Akhilesh as war of words between I.N.D.I.A partners intensifies

The ongoing war of words between the Congress and the Samajwadi Party (SP) in Uttar Pradesh intensified, indicating a growing chasm between the two members of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (I.N.D.I.A). UP Congress chief Ajay Rai hit back at SP president Akhilesh Yadav who had accused the grand old party of ‘cheating’ the SP by refusing to leave seats for the SP in the forthcoming Madhya Pradesh assembly polls.

Akhilesh had, in a veiled manner, accused Rai of having a 'tacit' understanding with the BJP and termed him a 'chirkut' (low-level leader). ''Such leaders (Ajay Rai) have no standing... he doesn't know anything,'' the SP president had said.

Rai, on Friday, hit back saying that one could not expect anything better from Akhilesh, who had "humiliated his father" (late SP patron and former UP Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav). "What can you expect from a person who humiliated his own father?" Rai said.

Echoing a more or less similar sentiment, former MP Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Kamal Nath also appeared to brush aside Akhilesh's remarks. "Are bhai choriye Akhilesh-Vakhilesh," (just forget about Akhilesh), Kamal Nath said when queried about the SP leader's remarks, at Chindwara in MP on Friday.

The verbal duel and Akhilesh's outbursts against the Congress has cast doubts on the durability of the I.N.D.I.A alliance in the country's most crucial political battleground of Uttar Pradesh, which sends 80 MPs to the Lok Sabha.

A senior SP leader, when asked if Congress and SP would contest next year's Lok Sabha polls in alliance in the state, said that a decision will be taken in this regard at an appropriate time. He, however, admitted that not everything was well between the two I.N.D.I.A alliance partners in UP.

Akhilesh had on Thursday said that Congress leaders were making a fool of themselves. ''Ye log BJP se mile hue hain'' (Congress leaders have a tacit understanding with the BJP), Akhilesh had said. ''We will also do what the Congress does to us'' he remarked.