Lucknow, December 31: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati has threatened to pull out of the Congress-led coalition governments in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan if cases filed against "innocents" in connection to the April 2 Bharat Bandh is not withdrawn. The party has appealed the Congress high command to act on their plea immediately.
A statement released by the BSP reads, "We demand that cases filed by the then BJP government in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan during the 'Bharat band' held on 2nd April, 2018 for SC/ST Act 1989 and reservation in promotion of government workers to be withdrawn. If these demands are not met, we'll reconsider our decision to give outside support to Congress." Akhilesh Yadav-Mayawati Alliance: Very Soon It Will Be in Front of You, Says Samajwadi Chief.
On December 12, Mayawati-led party extended its support to the Congress in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan to help the party form the government in both states.
In the 230-member strong Legislative Assembly of Madhya Pradesh, BJP -- that ruled the state for 15 years, trailed marginally at 109, while the Samajwadi Party (SP) won 1 seat and Mayawati's BSP bagged two seats. On the other hand, Independents won four seats all over the state.
Meanwhile, in the 199-seat Assembly of Rajasthan, the Congress again bagged 99 seats to dethrone the Vasundhara Raje led BJP which won 73 seats. The CPI-M won two seats, BSP six, Independents 13 and others six.
Mayawati's threat to pull out of MP and Rajasthan governments comes in the backdrop of reports claiming that the BSP, along with the Samajwadi Party, is planning to form a mahagathbandhan in Uttar Pradesh without the Congress.
(With ANI inputs)
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 31, 2018 11:21 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).