BSP, BJP are hand in gloves: Samajwadi Party

LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party today accused BSP supremo Mayawati of being in hand in gloves with BJP, and said she has "backtracked" from contesting from Lalganj Lok Sabha segment in Azamgarh district to help the saffron outfit consolidate votes in eastern Uttar Pradesh.

"BJP and Mayawati are hand in gloves... Mayawati's name was going on in political circles as a candidate from the Lalganj seat but she did not contest... She did so as she did not want to weaken Narendra Modi (BJP's prime ministerial candidate and party nominee from neighbouring Varanasi), for whom she had even campaigned in Gujarat," senior SP leaders Shivpal Singh Yadav told reporters here.

He said that Mayawati had become Chief Minister of the state for three times with the help of BJP, and now at the time of elections she was posing against it.

Asked about RLD leader Amar Singh's offer to campaign for party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav in Azamgarh, Shivpal said that the party would not stop anyone from campaigning.

On the occasion, former BJP MLA Kalpnath Paswan and former minster Sardar Singh joined SP.