New Delhi: The delay by Congress in deciding on an alliance seems to have miffed former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, who launched a scathing attack on the party at an election rally in Chhattisgarh. He accused the grand old party of scuttling Samajwadi Party's prospects in poll-bound state.

Hinting that SP might not enter into a tie-up with Congress in 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Yadav said, "...Humne bhi tay kar liya hai ... ki cycle ko rokoge to aapka haath handle se hata diya jayega ... Control aur kisi ke saath ho jaayega (..We have decided we'll remove your hand from the handle if you try to stop the cycle and the control will be with someone else)."

Without directly taking parties' name, the Samajwadi Party chief used their symbols (Congress's hand and SP's cycle) to hint at the growing rift between the two. Yadav's statement came during a rally in Durg, while campaigning for SP and its alliance partner Gondwana Gantantra Party.

The former CM had earlier also slammed the Congress for wasting time in "calculations" in the poll-bound states of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. "When the alliance did not happen, we went with GGP... It's hard to understand what the Congress is calculating and trying to do, but one thing becomes obvious... they want to stop SP from surging ahead," he had said.

Yadav said that there was no difference in policies of BJP and Congress. His 'anti-Congress' statements come barely 20 months after the two parties entered into an alliance for UP assembly elections when 'UP ke ladke' did rounds in the state. The SP leadership had then said that the 'cycle' would run even faster with the 'hand' to help in ride but the alliance failed as BJP swept the polls.