SP, Congress ties continues to be good, says Akhilesh, stays mum on fighting 2019 polls together

Lucknow: Buoyed by his party's victory in the Lok Sabha bypolls in Uttar Pradesh, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday stressed that his party's ties with the Congress continues to be good.

However, the SP chief stopped short of commenting if the two parties will fight the 2019 Lok Sabha elections together.

"I cannot comment on what will happen in the future. Our ties with the Congress will continue to be good," Akhilesh Yadav said this while addressing a press conference in the state capital Lucknow.

Akhilesh was replying to a question whether the SP will tie up with the Congress in the next Lok Sabha elections.

Akhilesh Yadav said the Samajwadi Party "respects all" and "sometimes we have to shed past baggage".

"Our ties are good with everyone," he said, commenting on the BSP's support to the Samajwadi Party in the Uttar Pradesh by-polls.

Akhilesh made these remarks a day after the Samajwadi Party snatched two BJP strongholds - Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's Gorakhpur and his deputy Keshav Maurya's Phulpur parliamentary seats in Uttar Pradesh - with the support of the BSP.

The former chief minister said the SP's "big win" in the by-polls was the victory of the "Dalits, poor, labourers, minorities and the other marginalised sections of the society".

"The lotus could not bloom in Phulpur... Their arrogance has been defeated. We hope their language will change."

(With Agency inputs)