The friendship got over with the elections,” said PM Modi referring to the Samajwadi Party’s alliance with the Congress for the assembly elections in 2017. Akhilesh Yadav and Congress president Rahul Gandhi had claimed that theirs was not an alliance for elections but a friendship for future. The grand-alliance of the three parties is contesting the Lok Sabha polls together while the Congress, having been overlooked, decided to go alone in Uttar Pradesh for the national elections. On the BSP-SP alliance for the Lok Sabha polls, PM Modi said, “Another friendship has been formed. The BSP had failed to win a single seat in the Lok Sabha elections in 2014, when the BJP-led coalition had won 73 of 80 parliamentary seats in the state.

Source: Hindustan Times April 20, 2019 11:49 UTC