Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday lashed out at the Congress for not including its sole legislator in Madhya Pradesh in the cabinet despite its support in the formation of the government and attaining the majority mark.

A miffed Yadav had “thanked” the Congress for not making his party’s lone MLA in Madhya Pradesh a minister, saying it has made the road ahead clear for his party.

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This statement from the 45-year-old leader is being seen as another indication of the growing space and disenchantment of the SP from the Congress.

Talking to reporters, the SP chief also hinted at a possible coalition without the Congress to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party in Uttar Pradesh in the upcoming general elections next year.

Akhilesh also welcomed the move of K. Chandrashekhar Rao, the Telangana Chief Minister and Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) for trying to stitch together a “non-Congress, non-BJP” front and said that they were scheduled to meet recently but this meeting could not happen as he was not available. He said he will soon go and meet Rao in Telangana and discuss the political scenario.

On the other hand, Mayawati, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo and a prospective partner in the “Maha Gathbandhan” has already given enough hints of acting tough on the Congress.

The Congress emerged as the single-largest party winning 114 seats in the Madhya Pradesh assembly elections but touched the majority only after the BSP and SP pledged their support to the party in the state.

Read | MP cliffhanger ends, Congress emerges single-largest party as BSP, SP lend support

Pledging support, Mayawati had said that even though BSP does not agree with many of the Congress policies, it will support the grand old party in Madhya Pradesh and also in Rajasthan if needed “to keep BJP out of power”.

Around 20 opposition parties, including regional heads like TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu and Trinamool Congress president Mamata Banerjee, had huddled up in Delhi on Monday to explore the possibilities of a grand alliance against the ruling BJP in 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati, however, chose to stay away from the meeting.