LUCKNOW: Amid reports of the Congress trying to rope in the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in UP for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, party supremo Mayawati, who is facing mass desertions by her sitting MPs and is treading cautiously in the upcoming elections, reiterated her stance on Saturday to go it alone.
“BSP is fighting the Lok Sabha polls in the country with complete preparation and full force. In such a situation, spreading rumours about forming an electoral alliance or third front is fake and wrong news,” she tweeted on Saturday. She went on to caution the media to desist from pushing such mischievous information to misguide people appealing to them to beware of such fake campaigns.
Mayawati reiterated that her party was firm on the decision to go it alone in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls instead of being a part of any alliance. She said that speculation about her party becoming part of an alliance or even the possibility of formation of a third front was misplaced and out of the question.
There has been a buzz around the alleged ongoing parleys for a possible alliance between the Congress and BSP during the last few days. As per the political grapevine, the Congress is in touch with BSP chief Mayawati to make her a part of the INDIA bloc.
There were reports in some quarters that Mayawati had agreed to join INDIA subject to the condition that Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party was nudged out of it. Such rumours were doing the rounds when there was a delay in the final seat-sharing deal between the Congress and the SP in UP.
As per highly placed sources, the Congress, after clinching the seat-sharing deal with the SP, has been exerting pressure on it to rope in the BSP in the alliance to get the benefit of OBC-Dalit-Muslim combination while taking on the ruling BJP. “However, the SP, with an increased tally of seats in 2022 UP Assembly polls, is opposing any such possibility in order to portray itself as the only party which can take on the BJP in UP and push its bargaining power with INDIA in future,” says a Congress source.
Political experts say there is a feeling among the SP ranks that if the BSP manages to fare better than it in the Lok Sabha polls, as it had done in 2019, the SP would have to play second fiddle to it in the state, which would be contrary to party interests.
Taking to microblogging site X, the BSP chief claimed that the party's stance of going solo with all its might in the upcoming elections had unnerved several parties. She added that in UP, the BSP was a formidable force and its decision to contest the upcoming elections solo was firm and final.
A few days ago, there was also speculation about a possible alliance between the BSP and Asaduddin Owaisi’s party AIMIM in UP.
Mayawati’s laidback approach towards the upcoming elections has surprised many. “Mayawati used to lead the political parties in announcing the list and finalising the candidates. For the upcoming elections, her relaxed attitude is beyond the level of understanding,” says Prof AK Mishra, a political commentator.
However, her opponents (read SP) are not mincing words in claiming that the BSP chief is toeing the line shown by the ruling party. Recently, her nephew and hire Akash Anand was accorded Y category security by the Union government.