Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati on Wednesday called senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh an agent of the Bharatiya Janata Party, ANI reported. Singh is the chief of the Madhya Pradesh Congress’ coordination committee for the upcoming Assembly elections.

She asserted her party would not ally with the Congress for the upcoming Assembly elections in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh even though Congress President Rahul Gandhi and former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi were keen on tying up with her party for the Assembly elections and even the Lok Sabha elections in 2019.

“It is sad that Digvijaya Singh and some Congress leaders are afraid of the Central Bureau of Investigation and do not want alliance between Congress and Bahujan Samaj Party,” she told reporters. “Digvijaya Singh, who is also a BJP agent, is giving statements that Mayawati has a lot of pressure from the Centre, so she does not want this alliance. This is baseless.”

Mayawati said the Congress has not learnt the lessons from its defeats in state elections. “Congress always tries to defeat its partners rather than try defeating the BJP,” she added. “They [Congress] are getting arrogant and are under the misconception that they can defeat the BJP on their own but the ground reality is that people haven’t forgiven Congress party for their mistakes and corruption.”

In response, Digvijaya Singh said he respected Mayawati and was always in favour of an alliance between the Congress and the BSP. “In Chhattisgarh, there were talks for alliance but she didn’t go for it,” he told ANI. “In Madhya Pradesh too, there were talks of an alliance, she declared 22 candidates.”

Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said the party is willing to work out their differences with the Bahujan Samaj Party. “At times, out of emotions, sweet and bitter things are said,” Surjewala said, according to ANI. “But at last, if Mayawati holds absolute trust in Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi, then other creases can be ironed out.”

Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Mizoram will go to the polls later this year along with Telangana, where the Assembly was dissolved in September.

Last month, the Bahujan Samaj Party had announced an alliance with former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Ajit Jogi’s party for the Assembly elections in the state. The party said Jogi would become the chief minister if the alliance wins the elections. The Bahujan Samaj Party will contest 35 seats, while Jogi’s party will field candidates from 55 seats in the 90-member Assembly.

Corrections and clarifications: An earlier version of this story missed the word “not” in the headline.