In a snub to the Congress and a big jolt to the Opposition unity ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) on Wednesday announced to go it alone in the Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan Assembly polls slated for later this year.

The announcement was made on the day senior Congress leader and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Digvijay Singh, in an interview to a private news channel, alleged that Mayawati was reluctant to be part of an Opposition alliance as she had succumbed to the pressure of the CBI and Enforcement Directorate (ED).

“We will have no truck with the Congress in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan Assembly polls and the party will contest all the seats in both the States,” Mayawati announced in the national Capital on Wednesday.

Trying to play down the development, the Congress hoped that the BSP chief reposing her faith in Rahul and Sonia Gandhi will provide it a window of opportunity and “creases will be ironed out” with harmony.

The Congress may be hopeful of still wooing Mayawati, but the BSP chief was vehement in her criticism of the grand old party. Mayawati claimed that BSP had the power to change the political tide of the country and the Congress was just trying to hold the party to ransom by offering a few seats in the alliance. She even went to the extent of alleging that the Congress was trying to finish the BSP.

Mayawati went on to allege that the Congress always tried to corner the BSP and other smaller parties. “They should know that the BSP is a party which came into existence from struggle to represent the sarv samaj along with Dalits, tribals and the poor. We have experienced several such bullying tactics in the past by the Congress and the BJP but have never bowed down to any pressure,” she said.

Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said, “Mayawati has expressed her sentiments and we respect that. She has reposed full faith in Rahulji and Soniaji and we respect that too. If there is harmony among Sonia Gandhi, who is our guide, and Rahul Gandhi, who is our leader, and Mayawatiji, then no fourth person can create a rift among them.

“If there are any creases left, they will be ironed out mutually among them with harmony,” he told reporters, adding once the leaders have amicable, respectable, fruitful relationship with each other, all other creases can be ironed out.

“In this yajna, those who will support the Congress will move together with us and they are welcome according to the political situation. Those who are unable to walk along are free to choose their own path. But, that does not mean, the Congress’ pledge and fight against the BJP and in removing it from power has weakened. It can be a thought of a particular person, but not us,” Surjewala said.

The BSP has already forged a pre-poll alliance in Chhattisgarh with the Janata Congress (Chhattisgarh), led by former tribal Chief Minister Ajit Jogi last month.

Talking about the sacrifices made by the BSP and herself, Mayawati said that she scarified her Government in UP in 2003 while later a few years back she resigned from the Rajya Sabha for the cause of Dalits and sarv samaj.

“We have never compromised on issues of Dalits and other backward communities in the past and will not do so in future too,” she said.

Mayawati alleged that the Congress had always insulted Dalits and even Dr BR Ambedkar and Kanshi Ram were not spared by them. “These feudal-minded political parties, who are castiest and have communal faces, are always opposed to leaders who come from backward castes and now they are trying to wipe out the BSP through their political conspiracy,” she said.

The BSP president also did not spare the BJP saying both the Congress and the BJP were two sides of the same coin. “The BJP has ditched the people of the country by not fulfilling any of the promises made during the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, besides demonetisation and GST have broken lives of the people and the economy. Rising prices of petroleum products and devaluation of rupee in comparison to dollar has created an economic crisis in the country,” she added.