Upset with the Congress for hobnobbing with the Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Ravan in Uttar Pradesh (UP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati may shut the doors on an alliance with the Congress in the 2019 general elections as well.

A far cry from the big hug she gave Sonia Gandhi at the Karnataka chief minister's swearing-in just six months ago, Mayawati has sent a stern warning to the Congress leadership for propping up Chandrashekhar, sources say. Chandrashekhar has emerged as Mayawati's rival to claim Dalit politics.

She even named Congress state vice-president and senior leader in western UP Imran Masood, who is sewing up an alliance with Chandrashekhar with an eye on 27 Lok Sabha seats in the region.

Mayawati recently walked out of an alliance with Congress in state-level elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. This was seen as a huge setback to the Opposition's effort to raise a united front against BJP.

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Opposition parties were banking upon a Grand Alliance comprising Samajwadi Party (SP), BSP and Congress, along with Ajit Singh's Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) in UP to unseat the BJP. Out of 80 Lok Sabha seats, BJP-led NDA won 73 seats in the state.

Congress leaders concede that Masood had helped the Bhim Army chief in jail. "Masood-sahib supported us in difficult days," acknowledged Chandrashekhar from Saharanpur to DNA over the phone. "He and his community have always tried to give security to Dalits."

He rejected the idea of an electoral alliance but emphasised that a Dalit-Muslim alliance, with representation from other backward classes, was imperative to defeat communal forces.

His associate, Kamal Waliya, said the Bhim Army is working on a united alliance against the BJP and does not intend to divide Dalit votes. "We all respect Mayawati and can join forces with her to defeat BJP in 2019," he said.

A senior BSP leader said that UP Congress was not learning from its mistakes. "They are following their colleagues in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh to weaken BSP to lay their hands on Dalit votes," he said. "Bhim Army is trying to damage BSP's mission by creating a dilemma among Dalit voters, and the Congress is supporting them indirectly. It is doing every kind of anti-grand alliance activity."

The leader said a stern warning has been issued and Mayawati will take it up with Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi as soon as she is free from campaigning in three poll-bound states.

GRAND DIVORCE