Chhattisgarh polls: Congress suffers setback as Mayawati's BSP ties up with Ajit Jogi's Janta Congress

In a setback for the Congress, Mayawati on Thursday said that the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has decided to contest the upcoming Assembly election in Chhattisgarh in alliance with the Janta Congress Chhattisgarh, according to several media reports.

File image of BSP supremo Mayawati. PTI

"Bahujan Samaj Party has decided to contest upcoming Assembly polls in alliance with Janta Congress Chhattisgarh. BSP will fight in 35 seats and Janta Congress Chhattisgarh will contest in 55 seats. If we win, Ajit Jogi will be the chief minister," ANI quoted Mayawati as saying.

News18 further reported that Mayawati said that BSP will only ally with those parties willing to allocate a respectable number of seats for her party.

"The alliance partner should also be working for the upliftment of Dalits and advivasis," the report quoted the BSP chief as saying.

The Dalit community in Chhattisgarh plays a crucial role in determining the election outcome in areas such as  Janjgir-Champa, Rajgarh and Bastar. Dalits make up 11.6 percent of the state's population.

BSP also released a list of 22 candidates for Madhya Pradesh. Out of four MLAs, three got tickets again. A possible alliance between Congress and BSP in Madhya Pradesh didn't come to fruition due to differences over seat sharing.

According to The Economic Times, the alliance talks between Congress and BSP were stuck because Mayawati wanted to contest in at least 50 out of 230 seats while Congress was not willing to spare more than 25 to 30 seats.