Transfer of votes among gathbandhan partners could not take place: Dinesh Sharma

Ahead of counting of votes for Lok Sabha polls, UP Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma on Wednesday claimed that May 23 will witness the "political funeral" of the anti-BJP alliance of opposition parties.

The month of May, he said, will prove to be a "sad month" for Samajwadi Party (SP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Congress, which are fighting for their political survival.

"May 23 will witness the political funeral (rajnitik antim sanskar) of the anti-BJP ''gathbandhan'' of SP, BSP, RLD and Congress. These parties will level allegations and counter-allegations against each other," Mr Sharma told PTI in Lucknow.

The deputy chief minister also claimed that in the ''gathbandhan'', the SP is contesting elections to decimate the BSP and vice versa.

Taking a jibe at the ''gathbandhan'', he said, "With mercury rising everyday, the temperature of the ''gathbandhan'' is also rising as they can easily see defeat approaching. It is for this very reason that they are making preposterous remarks."

He said, "Transfer of votes among gathbandhan partners could not take place".

"Akhilesh knew this very well and in order to make Mayawati happy said the BSP chief should be made the prime minister. When Akhilesh's party is contesting on 37 seats, how can he think of making someone the prime minister? It seems Akhilesh is showing ''Mungeri Lal ke haseen sapne'' (day dreaming)," Mr Sharma said.

Attacking the Congress, the deputy chief minister said," Congress has itself accepted that it is a vote-katwa party (a party which believes in splitting votes). Its leaders have a record of travelling abroad. For them, election campaigning is like a picnic. The leaders of the ''vote-katwa'' party are now booking tickets to go abroad as their politics of splitting votes has failed."

Lashing out at Rahul Gandhi, he said,"The Congress president uses indecent words for the prime minister and has crossed all limits of decency. And in this way he has presented himself as an indecent person.The Congress president, during the tenure of UPA-2, had also insulted the then prime minister by tearing the Cabinet proposal. The Congress president must learn decency."

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