Alliance with BSP will help Congress in MP: Digvijaya
New Delhi, June 11: A pre-poll alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) will help the Congress in the upcoming Madhya Pradesh assembly election, senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh has said.
In an interview to NDTV telecast on Monday, the former Chief Minister spoke in favour of alliance with the Mayawati-led party citing its strength to get Dalit votes in certain regions in the state.
"If you seek an alliance on election results in Madhya Pradesh... from Morena division to Gwalior division to Sagar division to Rewa division, there is a belt bordering Uttar Pradesh, where BSP gets 10-30,000 votes.
"If you see that these votes which are primarily from Dalits.. who have been been overwhelmingly voting for Congress from 1952 onwards... if we have a tactical alliance, a pre-poll alliance with BSP, it will certainly help," he said.
Asked whether Congress is ready to take a back seat and cede more ground to alliance partners as the 2019 general elections nears closes in, Digvijaya Singh said it depended on numbers and that each state had a different character which has to be factored in.
"It depends on numbers. Prior to 2004 elections there was no pre-poll alliance... political arithmetic works at some places but doesn't work at all places... There are number of factors which come to the fore when it comes to forming alliance.
"Every state has its strength and weakness. Therefore I think you have to go state-wise to see which are the parties with which Congress can come together," he said.
Commenting on Pranab Mukherjee's much-talked about address at RSS headquarter in Nagpur, Singh said that it was very courageous of the former President to challenge the RSS in their own "den" and that what he said was amounted to hitting at the "core ethos of the RSS".
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Over 30 people hospitalised after consuming food at wedding in UP
Barabanki (UP) (PTI): More than 30 people, including children and the elderly, were hospitalised due to suspected food poisoning after consuming non-vegetarian dishes at a wedding ceremony here, officials said on Sunday.
The incident occurred on Saturday evening in Lalapur locality of the Dewa area during the wedding of Mohammad Nazim, a resident of Khijna village.
According to health officials, guests began complaining of severe abdominal pain and vomiting around half an hour after consuming various non-vegetarian dishes served at the event.
Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr Awadhesh Yadav, who reached the spot to oversee the treatment, said an ambulance was rushed to the village upon receiving information from locals.
All those affected were initially admitted to the Community Health Centre (CHC) in Dewa.
While many are being treated at the CHC, six people have been referred to the District Hospital for further treatment.
"Treatment is being provided to all affected individuals. Some have been discharged after their condition was stabilised. The health department is conducting a thorough investigation into the food poisoning to ascertain the exact cause," Yadav said.
Officials have collected food samples for testing.
