Bahujan Samaj Party president Mayawati has snapped all ties with its most-recent ally, Samajwadi Party, after six months of bonhomie, saying the behaviour and attitude of the SP was responsible for the ‘break-up’.
Mayawati’s decision vindicated the claims of top leaders of Bharatiya Janata Party that the SP-BSP alliance would be in tatters after the Lok Sabha polls.
On January 12 last, BSP and SP had announced their alliance for the Lok Sabha polls in UP and as per the understanding, the BSP had contested on 38 seats, SP on 37, Rashtriya Lok Dal, the third ally, on three seats while two seats were left for the Congress. The BSP won 10 seats, SP five and Congress just one.
In a tweet on Monday, Mayawati said: “The behaviour of Samajwadi Party after Lok Sabha polls has forced us to take such decision, as unitedly we would not be able to defeat the BJP. Hence, for the party’s interest, we have decided to contest any polls, big or small, alone.”
She also tweeted that the BSP had forgotten all about the past as to how during the SP regime in 2012-17, despite Dalit atrocities and anti-Dalit policies, BSP went for the alliance and fulfilled coalition dharma.
However, Mayawati blasted media reports about the party meeting held in Lucknow on Sunday. “The BSP’s national level meeting continued for two-and-a-half hours and state-wide meets continued till late night where media was not allowed. But unfortunately, reports published and telecast were not correct though we had issued a press statement,” she said.
Mayawati had recently announced her decision that the BSP would contest by-elections to 12 UP Assembly seats alone, claiming that SP voters did not support the coalition in the Lok Sabha elections.
At BSP’s Sunday meeting, the party re-appointed Mayawati’s brother Anand Kumar as vice-president and designated her nephew Akash Anand as national co-ordinator.
Earlier, Anand Kumar was named BSP vice-president but removed after allegations of dynastic politics were levelled against Mayawati. The elevation of Mayawati’s nephew is being considered significant as he is reportedly among the front-runners to take over the BSP after her.
When Akash was included in the list of party’s star campaigners ahead of Lok Sabha polls, a BSP leader had said, “Akash’s inclusion in the list could be the beginning of an exercise to give him some important position in the near future.”
Besides, the BSP appointed Amroha MP Danish Ali as leader of the party in Lok Sabha and Nagina MP Girish Chandra as chief whip in the Lok Sabha. Besides, senior leader Ramji Gautam, was appointed as national co-ordinator.
