Akhilesh Yadav's ‘whose name has lotus’ retort to Kamal Nath's ‘Vakhilesh’ jab

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday took a potshot at Madhya Pradesh Congress stalwart Kamal Nath while responding to his 'Akhilesh-Vakhilesh' remark, saying whose name is ‘Kamal' (lotus)’ won't call him by his correct name.

'Kamal' means Lotus in Hindi, which is the poll symbol of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

"He was right in saying who is Vakhilesh? Akhilesh is there. If they say these kinds of things then Samajwadi Party can also say (such things), but we don't want to indulge in this. Our relationship with Kamal Nath is very good. His name is so nice. Whose name has 'kamal', they will call Vakhilesh only, not Akhilesh," he was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

On Friday, while campaigning in his stronghold Chhindwara, Nath said his party would win the elections with better than expected numbers. Asked about SP chief Akhilesh Yadav's allegations of "betrayal" against Congress over seat-sharing, Kamal Nath said, “Arre bhai chhodo Akhilesh Vakhilesh (leave it alone).”

Also read: Kamal Nath says 'chhodo Akhilesh Vakhilesh' as SP vs Congress intensifies

The verbal exchange comes amid tension between Samajwadi Party and the Congress -- who are the INDIA alliance partners -- over distribution of seats in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh.

The rift stems from the Congress party's list of 144 candidates released earlier this week. Akhilesh Yadav claimed senior Congress politicians had promised him at least four seats but no Samajwadi Party candidate featured on the list.

Later, the Congress said the alliance was meant for national politics against BJP, not for assembly elections. Yesterday, Akhilesh Yadav described the party's move as “betrayal”.

On Friday, Yadav said the INDIA alliance would never be able to defeat the BJP if "this confusion prevails".

"The country has a big challenge (in 2024). The BJP is a big party. It is a highly organised outfit. So to take it on, there should not be any confusion in any of the constituents of the (INDIA bloc). If you take on the BJP with confusion, you will not succeed," he said.

UPCC president Ajay Rai, responding to Akhilesh Yadav's attacks, said the Samajwadi Party was helping the BJP by contesting the elections separately.

Meanwhile, BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad today said the INDIA bloc was an “opportunist” alliance.

"This was bound to happen. They are trying to defeat BJP and there is no courtesy for each other among them. Keep watching. In an opportunist alliance, a clash of selfishness was supposed to happen and it happened," he said.

With inputs from agencies