'Congress & SP can together bring stability in Uttar Pradesh'

NEW DELHI: Despite Congress insisting that it would not go for any post poll tie-up in Uttar Pradesh, a Rajya Sabha MP today claimed that the party and SP as allies can bring stability in the state as well as the Centre.

" Samajwadi Party and Congress are post poll allies which will bring stability in Uttar Pradesh as well as the Centre," Rajya Sabha MP Mohammad Adeeb, elected to Rajya Sabha with Congress and SP support, told reporters here.

He appealed to the Muslims, especially in western UP where the polls are due now, to vote tactically in favour of either Samajwadi Party or Congress as per the strength of their local candidate.

This, he said, would ensure that SP and Congress could provide a "stable and secular" government in Uttar Pradesh.

Adeeb also claimed that Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi would be unable to convert his pre-poll efforts into votes in Uttar Pradesh.

He added that SP's Akhilesh Yadav has made an impact as a youth leader.

"Rahul could have cashed in on the support of people in Uttar Pradesh to make Congress the number one party if it had not given tickets to wrong persons," he said.

Adeeb claimed that at the end of the fourth round of polling, Samajwadi Party was in number one position, followed by the Congress and BJP was nowhere to be seen.

There has been a breach in Chief Minister Mayawati's votebank, he added.

Adeeb lashed out at the Peace Party, which he dubbed as a "dangerous organisation" sponsored by the BJP, to neutralise the Muslim vote. He said he would demand an inquiry into the funds obtained by Peace Party once a "secular government" takes over.

The Rajya Sabha MP said that though Congress president Sonia Gandhi was his leader, he also has respect for SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav.