No tie-up with SP for Gorakhpur, Phulpur LS bypolls, clarifies Mayawati

Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati on Sunday ruled out the possibility of an electoral tie-up with the Samajwadi Party for the upcoming Lok Sabha bypolls in Uttar Pradesh's Gorakhpur and Phulpur. However, she said the two parties could help each other in the upcoming Rajya Sabha and Legislative Council elections and also suggested a possible formula for it. "Barring Karnataka, there is no electoral tie-up or agreement with any political party in any state of the country. There have been reports in the media that for the Lok Sabha elections, the SP and the BSP have entered an alliance or it is likely to take place. This is wrong," Mayawati told reporters. "In UP, whenever there will be an electoral alliance involving the BSP, SP or any other party, it will not be done in a clandestine manner.

It would be made public," she said. The BSP chief said the BSP had not fielded any candidate from Phulpur and Gorakhpur, "but this does not mean that party workers will not cast their votes. They will in fact exercise their voting rights appropriately... As per my earlier directives, the BSP workers will vote for a candidate who will be in a position to defeat the BJP, and there is nothing wrong in it". Bypolls to the Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha seats will be held on March 11. The seats were vacated by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and his deputy Keshav Prasad Maurya after the UP Assembly elections last year. Gorakhpur is the home turf of Adityanath. Meanwhile, Mayawati said that if SP and BSP legislators transfer their votes to defeat the BJP in the Rajya Sabha and UP Legislative Council polls, then it should not be perceived as an electoral alliance. "The BSP on its own cannot send anyone to the Rajya Sabha. The SP too does not have the adequate number of MLAs that it can send two of its MPs to the Rajya Sabha. To ensure the victory of its second candidate, it will need additional votes. "Our party after holding deliberations with the SP has decided that our party worker will go to the Rajya Sabha. In return, we will help them in the Legislative Council elections," she said. Mayawati said that if the BSP votes for the Congress in Madhya Pradesh, "then the Congress can send one (of its party worker as) Rajya Sabha MP (from Madhya Pradesh). "If the Congress wants to ensure an easy win for its candidate in the Rajya Sabha polls in Madhya Pradesh, then the seven Congress MLAs (in UP) should cast their votes (in favour of the BSP during Rajya Sabha elections) after showing them to the BSP agent." Mayawati said the Lok Sabha elections had not been announced yet, and the party would take the final decision at an appropriate time. She added that while forging an alliance, she would see whether her party got a respectable number of seats.