BJP terms BSP move as ‘Opportunistic Agreement’

NEW DELHI: Terming it as “the most opportunistic agreement” that concedes BJP’s big lead in UP bypolls, BJP leaders said SP-BSP understanding will “miserably” fail the Gorakhpur-Phulpur test. UP deputy CM KP Maurya described it as a “competitive tournament to stop PM Modi”. He pointed out that votes polled by SP and BSP together in 2014, in Gorakhpur and Phulpur, were much less than BJP’s. Another senior BJP leader told ET it was impossible that Jatavs (BSP’s vote bank) would back SP (mostly associated with Yadavs), especially with merely a week to go for the bypolls.

“Kahu Rahim, kaise nibhe, ber ker ka sang,” CM Yogi Adityanath responded with a Rahim couplet. UP power minister Shrikant Sharma told ET that “UP likes the work of CM Yogi and PM Modi and not this deal of buabhatija”.

“The deal has been done just for their own selfish interest to get a Rajya Sabha seat,” Sharma said.


“This understanding will have no impact on BJP. Mayawati used to say she was humiliated and assaulted by SP (referring to the UP guest house incident). She stands exposed that she has no ideology, but only believes in deals,” UP BJP spokesman Chandra Mohan said.

BJP leaders also pointed out how Congress failed to transfer votes to SP in the last year’s assembly polls. “Whichever party ties up with SP in UP, its votes end up getting transferred to BJP. That is why Congress is not with SP anymore,” a senior BJP leader said.

In 2014 Lok Sabha polls in Gorakhpur, BJP polled 5.39 lakh votes, more than the combined votes of SP (2.26 lakh) and BSP (1.76 lakh). In Phulpur, BJP polled 5.03 lakh votes, surpassing total votes of SP (1.95 lakh) and BSP (1.63 lakh).