- Saturday, May 04, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
BAHUJAN Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Friday (2) said the decision of the opponent Samajwadi Party (SP) to contest the assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh in 2022 with the help of small parties showed its “helplessness” as major parties were avoiding it owing to “bitter” experience.
Recently, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav ruled out alliance with any major political party in the next year’s state polls and said openly that he will only go with smaller parties.
Mayawati slams SP on Twitter
In a Hindi tweet, Mayawati, who has been a chief minister of UP a number of times and last served between 2007 and 2012, said, “In view of the bitter experiences with the Samajwadi Party due to its very selfish, narrow and especially anti-Dalit thinking and working style, all prominent and major parties avoid it (SP). This is well known”.
“That is why in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly election, this party will not fight with any major party but only with the help of an alliance with smaller parties. If saying this is not the helplessness of SP, then what is it,” she said.
The BSP and SP are known for their fierce rivalry in the state and the equation has worsened of late after a number of rebel leaders from Mayawati’s party met Yadav, who has been a one-time chief minister between 2012 and 2017.
In the 2017 assembly elections in UP, the SP contested in alliance with the Indian National Congress while in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the SP and BSP contested together. On both occasions, these parties fared miserably while the Bharatiya Janata Party walked away with heavy victories.
