New Delhi: The widening rift in Mulayam Singh Yadav's family will cost the ruling Samajwadi Party dearly in the upcoming assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh and some of its senior leaders are in touch with Congress to join it, Congress Chief Ministerial candidate Sheila Dikshit said on Sunday.
Dikshit, a three-time Chief Minister of Delhi, said the cracks in SP will benefit Congress as those unhappy with goings on in that party do not have much choice but to come to Congress'fold.
Confident of an impressive performance by Congress in the Assembly polls in the politically crucial state where the party has been out of power for 27 years, she said some of the SP MLAs and mid-level leaders were also in touch with Congress.
"There are a lot people wanting to come to the Congress, certainly because they cannot go to BJP or BSP," she told PTI in an interview.
Asked whether some senior leaders of SP are in touch with the Congress, 78-year-old Dikshit said they are a mixture of senior, mid-level and local leaders.
"Those who are disappointed with the reputation that SP has picked up are definitely looking for alternative and the alternative is Congress," she said adding "a lot" of SP MLAs are also trying to get in touch with Congress.
"Many of them are in touch already. Openly they are not doing it now," she said.
The SP has been grappling with internal rift mainly due to differences between party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav's brother Shivpal Yadav and his son, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.
The elections in the state are due early next year, Amid the feud, Mulayam on Friday had said the SP's chief ministerial candidate will be decided by party legislators after the 2017 assembly elections, if the party manages to form government again.
The announcement is seen as a setback to Akhilesh who was recently removed as president of SP's state president.
"Of course it (rift in SP) will help. It will be harmful for them because it is the party in power. All the scandals and differences are not going to help them," said Dikshit.
About Congress' preparations for the polls, the veteran Congress leader said the party has been revived to a great extent across the state and people's expectations from it have now grown significantly.
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