LUCKNOW: After clinching alliance in politically most crucial state of Uttar Pradesh to take on the ruling BJP, the Bahujan Samaj Party of Mayawati and the Samajwadi Party of Akhilesh Yadav took their mutual understanding to the next level here on Monday by announcing the poll pact to for Madhya Pradesh and Uttarakhand where the two parties decided to fight upcoming Lok Sabha elections together.
However, Mayawati yet again winning an edge over Akhilesh while sharing the seats in the two states.
While the Samajwadis will field candidates on three of the 29 Lok Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh, the BSP will contest on the remaining 26. Akhilesh's party will contest Balaghat, Tikamgarh, and Khajuraho seats in Madhya Pradesh.
Similarly, in the hill state of Uttarakhand which has just 5 Lok Sabha seats, the BSP has left Garhwal (Pauri) seat for Akhilesh's party, rest four will be fought by the BSP candidates, said the joint statement issued here on Monday.
The statements have been undersigned by the chiefs of both the parties. In fact, both the UP-based parties have little presence in MP and Uttarakhand.
In Madhya Pradesh, both SP and BSP had failed to even open their account in 2014, while in 2018 Assembly elections, BSP had gone it alone and has won two seats and SP had tied up with some regional fringe outfits winning just a single seat.
In Uttarakhand, both SP and BSP had scored a duck in 2014 Lok Sabha elections and all five seats were won by the BJP. IN 2017 Assembly elections also, none of the two parties could open their account.
The two regional satraps worked out the arithmetic of Lok Sabha seats in MP and Uttarakhand after defined their seat sharing for Uttar Pradesh a week ago. In UP, the BSP would contest on 38 seats, SP on 37 and RLD on three seats.
Two seats of Gandhi bastions have been left untouched by the two parties. While the Congress was kept cautiously out of the alliance in UP, Akhilesh recently had claimed that the grand old party was very much a part of the alliance as they had left Amethi and Rae Bareli seats for it.
After Monday's announcement, the SP-BSP alliance has officially spread its wings to three states.
It may be recalled that the two parties had announced their pact for UP with much fanfare in Lucknow on January 12.
The political observers view it as the unconditional compromise by the Samajwadis of their political interests in MP and Uttarakhand where Mayawati has apparently succeeded in prevailing over Akhilesh.
It may not be forgotten that Akhilesh doesn't have the support of his father and Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav over the alliance issue as he had accused his son of compromising party's political future.