BSP chief Mayawati rules out alliance with Congress, says "capable of defeating BJP on our own"

In a massive jolt to Congress, BSP chief Mayawati has ruled out any alliance with the Rahul Gandhi-led Congress for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The BSP released a statement on Tuesday saying that it is capable of defeating the BJP on its own. 

"As discussed in the meeting, BSP will not form an alliance with Congress in any state".  

The statement further read that SP-BSP alliance in UP, Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh is being considered as "Perfect". 

Earlier, In a big blow to Congress's efforts to stitch Maha Gathbandhan before this year states elections and 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party announced a major decision and said the two is forming an alliance in Uttar Pradesh. Addressing a joint press conference in Lucknow, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and BSP chief Mayawati said the two parties have decided to join hands and will contest on an equal number of Lol Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh. The SP and the BSP also decided to exclude Congress from their pre-poll alliance.

Mayawati had also hurled at the Congress, which was multi-fold. She slammed the Rahul Gandhi-led party for the poor state of numerous communities despite the Congress having ruled both at the centre and at various states for so many years. She attacked it over the imposition of Emergency, putting forth that the only difference with the BJP was that right now the 'emergency' was undeclared. 

Read: SCOOP: After His Son Sujay Joins BJP, Congress' Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil May Resign As Leader Of Opposition In Maharashtra

Earlier in the day, the son of the leader of opposition in the state joined the BJP. Sujay Vikhe Patil was welcomed into the BJP by Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and other senior leaders of the party in Mumbai.

Sujay Vikhe Patil, the son of senior Congress leader Radha Krishna Vikhe Patil, has been upset over not being fielded by the party from Ahmednagar which is considered the stronghold of the Vikhe Patil family, of which Sujay belongs to the fourth-generation.