Mayawati dumps and warns congress

On Monday, a day after Congress opted to leave seven of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh vacant for the upcoming Lok Sabha election, Mayawati asked the party not to give a false impression. Congress on Sunday announced it will leave seven seats for the SP, BSP and RLD alliance in the state. These include Mainpuri, Kannauj and Firozabad.

Underlining that the BSP-SP alliance is capable of bringing down BJP, Mayawati said that Congress need not leave any UP seat vacant. She said "Congress party is absolutely free to contest Lok Sabha election on all 80 seats independently in UP,". Further added "Congress must not give the wrong impression by leaving seven seats vacant in UP for SP, BSP and RLD. Our alliance formed here is strong enough to defeat BJP."

Congress state president Raj Babbar had made the announcement and the seats included Mainpuri, Kannauj, Firozabad and other seats that the chiefs of BSP, SP and RLD may choose to contest in. Maywati would eventually join hands with nemesis Akhilesh Yadav and has a 50:50 seat-sharing arrangement for the upcoming election