SP will also contest bypolls alone: Akhilesh Yadav

NEW DELHI: The grand alliance between the SP, BSP and RLD, which was entered into before the Lok Sabha polls, has been put to an end by BSP chief Mayawati. While addressing media persons in Delhi, Mayawati said BSP would contest the forthcoming assembly by-elections on its own and there will not be any alliance with the SP.

This has come as a shocker for the Samajwadi Party as, till Monday, SP president Akhilesh Yadav, while speaking in his Lok Sabha constituency of Azamgarh, advocated for an SP, BSP alliance. “SP and BSP will fight Kumafor social justice together,” he had said. On the stage from where he was speaking, there was a big poster of Mayawati and Akhilesh thanked BSP workers for supporting him in Azamgarh.

However, once BSP openly announced its decision, Akhilesh too said he was ready to go solo. “If the alliance is not there, we welcome this also. We will contest all the assembly seats in the bypoll on our own,” said Akhilesh Yadav.


Meanwhile, Mayawati has blamed the SP for not keeping the core Yadav voters of the party intact. “My personal relations with Akhilesh Yadav and Dimple Yadav shall continue, but political compulsions can’t be ignored,” said Mayawati in her statement. “Even in Yadav-dominated areas, the core votes of SP was not intact with the party, which resulted in the defeat of Dimple Yadav, Dharmendra Yadav and Ram Gopal Yadav’s son.”

She said going forward, if Akhilesh Yadav works hard and is able to get their voters back with him, “we can work in future”.

If he is not able to do that, it is better for us to move alone. In the current circumstances, we have decided to contest all the seats in the upcoming byelections to 11 assembly seats,” she added.

The decision was taken by the BSP at a review meeting which took place at Mayawati’s residence in Delhi on June 3.