BHOPAL: A day after BSP candidate from Guna-Shivpuri seat Lokendra Singh Rajput joined the Congress, an angry BSP chief Mayawati threatened to reconsider her “support to the Kamal Nath government”. “Congress doesn’t lag behind BJP when it comes to misuse of the government machinery. The BSP candidate from Guna-Shivpuri seat was pressurized by the Congress to back their candidate. But the BSP will respond to it by contesting on its own poll symbol.
Also, we would reconsider continuing the support to the Congress government in MP,” she tweeted on Tuesday. Rajput had joined the Congress in the presence of national general secretary in-charge for West UP Jyotiraditya Scindia.This is the second setback for the BSP in MP, as a few days back its candidate from Rajgarh Lok Sabha seat Nisha Tripathi had withdrawn her nomination in support of Congress candidate Mona Sustani.
Both Guna and Rajgarh constituency go to poll in the penultimate phase of Lok Sabha polls in Madhya Pradesh on May 12.Kamal Nath had formed the Congress government in Madhya Pradesh after 15 years with support from four independent legislators (all Congress rebels), two BSP MLAs, Rambai Parihar (Pathariya) and Sanju Kushwah (Bhind) and lone SP MLA Rajesh Kumar ‘Bablu Bhaiya’ (Bijawar).
If the BSP now withdraws support and its coalition partner SP follows suit, the Congress government in the Madhya Pradesh will only have 118 MLAs in support — just two more than simple majority mark.
Top BJP leaders in the state, including ex-CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan, have been hinting at the fall of the Congress government in the state if the BJP returns to power at the Centre after the Lok Sabha polls.