The Bahujan Samaj Party on Sunday refuted reports that they were negotiating a pre-poll alliance with the Congress ahead of the Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, PTI reported. Bahujan Samaj Party state president Narmada Prasad Ahirwar told reporters in Bhopal that the Mawawati-led party had decided to contest all 230 seats.

“Congress wants to get our share of the vote bank and that is why it is desperate to ally with us,” the Hindustan Times quoted Ahirwar as saying. “In Madhya Pradesh, Congress has more to gain with an alliance than us.”

The Congress also denied reports that it had claimed alliance negotiations with the Bahujan Samaj Party were underway. “We never named any party,” Madhya Pradesh Congress media department chief Manak Agarwal said. “The Congress only said that we would try to have an alliance with political parties with a similar ideology.”

The Assembly elections may be held in November or December.

In the 2013 Madhya Pradesh polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party secured 165 seats, the Congress 58, the Bahujan Samaj Party four and Independents won three seats.

In May, Mayawati had said her party would enter an alliance of Opposition parties against the Bharatiya Janata Party only if it is given a respectable number of seats. If not, the party will contest the 2019 General Elections on its own, she said.