Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday continued his spate of attacks on the Congress amid tension between the INDIA bloc partners over seat distribution in Madhya Pradesh, as he called the latter a “chalu” (cheat) party. Addressing a public meeting in the poll-bound state, Yadav said if the party could “cheat” him, it can cheat the masses.

“Nobody is getting anything in ration…Then why would you vote BJP…don’t even vote for the Congress…Congress is a very chalu (cheat) party… will you be careful or not? If Congress can cheat us, it can cheat any one,” he said in Tikamgarh.

He also attacked the Congress over its demand of a nation-wide caste census.

“Their vote base shifted to the BJP… they are demanding caste-based census for vote bank… we are standing with you because we want you to get social justice,” he added.

The Congress last month denied seats to Yadav’s party in Madhya Pradesh saying the INDIA bloc was meant for national politics, not regional elections. The Samajwadi Party politician called the party’s action “betrayal”.

The Congress-Samajwadi Party tussle in Madhya Pradesh has prompted a volley of attacks and snide remarks by Yadav against his allies.

On Saturday, Yadav said his party was making preparations on all the 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh.

“The Samajwadi Party is making preparations on all the 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state for the coming elections, how many allies have to be taken along will be known later. But preparations have to be made on all the 80 seats as help will have to be extended to the alliance partners which contest the polls,” he said.

On spat with the Congress, he had said, “Lessons should be learnt in politics, only this helps to move forward.”

The spat has provided ammunition to BJP to attack the INDIA bloc.

“The opposition alliance has started disintegrating even before it is formed. The parties in it are pitted against each other in the Assembly polls in various states. It has now turned into ‘indie zero’ alliance,” Goyal said on Sunday.

“Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is sad about the state of the alliance. The Aam Aadmi Party abuses the Congress. In West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, the constituents of the alliance are fighting,” he claimed.

With inputs from PTI, ANI