SP MP calls Kamal Nath 'chhutbhaiya neta' over Akhilesh Yadav remark

Samajwadi Party MP Ram Gopal Yadav on Saturday took a jibe at former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath over his ‘Vakhilesh’ jibe at Akhilesh Yadav, calling the Congress leader a ‘chhutbhaiya neta’ (small leader).

Yadav, when questioned about the remark made by Congress leaders including Kamal Nath on the SP chief, retorted,"I don't want to say anything about them. They are small leaders".

The war of words between the Samajwadi Party and Congress has heated up ahead of the polls in five states including Madhya Pradesh. Akhilesh Yadav had said if the grand old party did not want to give it seats in MP, they should have told before.

“Today, SP is fighting only on seats where it has its own organisation. Now after Madhya Pradesh, I know that the INDIA alliance is for the (parliamentary) elections on a national level. If Congress continues to behave like this, then who will trust them? If we fight with confusion in mind against the BJP, then we won't succeed”, Yadav had said.

When asked about the ex-UP CM's remark on the Congress, Kamal Nath had retorted,"Are bhai chhodo Akhilesh Vakhilesh (leave questions on Akhilesh)," said.

On Saturday, Akhilesh Yadav hit back at Nath, who is currently helming the Congress in poll-bound MP. “He said this right, that who is Vakhilesh? Akhilesh is there. If they say these kinds of things then Samajwadi Party can also say, 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”, the Samajwadi Party boss was quoted by ANI as saying.

In the 2018 assembly election, the Samajwadi Party had contested on 52 seats and won just one seat. It had extended support to the Congress which was short of majority to form the government in the state.

Madhya Pradesh, currently ruled by the BJP, goes to election on November 17. The counting of vote will take place on December 3.