Chhattisgarh polls: Mayawati snubs Congress, joins hands with Ajit Jogi

Sep 20 (AZINS) In a snub to the Congress ahead of the Chhattisgarh elections, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati on Thursday announced an alliance with Ajit Jogi's Janta Congress Chhattisgarh (JCC) and declared him the chief ministerial candidate.

The BSP will contest 35 seats and the Janta Congress Chhattisgarh 55 in the 90-member Assembly, Mayawati announced.

"We have decided to forge an alliance with the Janata Congress Chhattisgarh. Ajit Jogi will be the chief ministerial candidate," Mayawati said at a press conference in Lucknow.

"My views on alliance with other parties are clear. We will go for an alliance if our party gets a respectable number of seats and if the ideologies match," she said.

Mayawati said the BSP and the JCC will soon launch a joint election campaign and a plan for conducting rallies will be finalised soon.

Replying to a question, she said, "Both the parties are capable of stopping the BJP in the state. If some other regional parties want to join us, we will take their help." She alleged that the BJP government in Chhattisgarh did nothing for the state in the past 15 years and that a "strong regional representation" was necessary to ensure that it is not neglected.

Ajit Jogi said the alliance will be able to stop the BJP from coming to power for the fourth consecutive term.

"BJP has been in power in Chhattisgarh for past 15 years. By misuse of power money and government machinery, the BJP wants to again come back to power. Now we have formed an alliance and we are sure that I and Mayawati ji will be able to stop the BJP," the former  Chhattisgarh Chief Minister said.

In Chhattisgarh, the Dalit population plays an important role in determining election results in regions such as Janjgir-Champa, Raigarh and Bastar.

Reacting to the alliance, Congress' Chhattisgarh in-charge PL Punia said, "We had received a proposal from BSP for an alliance. Congress will fight the elections independently and form the government in the state."