The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) on Sunday indicated that it would extend support to the Samajwadi Party (SP) in the Phulpur and Gorakhpur Lok Sabha bypolls scheduled for March 11.
However, BSP president Mayawati clarified that the decision this did not amount to a formal alliance between the two parties.
She said reports suggesting that the SP and BSP had entered into an alliance for 2019 were “baseless and wrong” and being spread by mischievous elements.
She said she had only appealed her supporters and party workers to vote for the “opposition party candidates in the strongest position” to defeat the BJP in Phulpur and Gorakhpur.
The former chief minister though hinted at that her party did not rule out a strategic transfer of votes with the SP in the upcoming Rajya Sabha and Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council to keep out the BJP'S extra nominees.
”Except in Karnataka [where she has alligned with Dewe Gowda's Janata Dal (Secular)] the BSP has not entered into any alliance or understanding in any other state. Final decision will be taken when 2019 Lok Sabha elections are declared,” Ms. Mayawati said.
As per the strategy, the BSP will support the SP getting its MLCs elected in U.P., while the SP will help Ms Mayawati's party send a candidate to the Rajya Sabha. It is not yet clear if she will contest the election to the upper house.
Though SP president Akhilesh Yadav has gone all out to ensure a united opposition front including the BSP and Congress, in the by-polls, he has not yet reacted to Ms. Mayawati's fresh remarks.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath dismissed the idea that a combined force of the SP and BSP would be any threat to the BJP.
Ms. Mayawati's clarification came hours after her Gorakhpur and Allahabad office-bearers declared support to the respective SP candidates.
A combined SP and BSP force, if resonated on the ground, has the potential to stretch out the BJP, at least in Phulpur, the seat it won for the first time in 2014 under the Modi wave.
That year, the BJP won both Phulpur and Gorakhpur, securing over 50% votes on each seat, 13% more than the combined vote of SP and BSP.
However, in the 2017 Assembly election, while the BJP and its allies won all 10 Assembly segments in Phulpur and Gorakhpur, the SP and BSP combined defeated the BJP candidate on six of them. In addition, in Gorakhpur Rural the combined vote of the SP and the Nishad Party, which is this time directly alligned with Akhilesh Yadav, was more than the BJP's tally. In another seat in Gorakhpur, Campierganj, the combined vote of the Nishad Party, BSP and Congress [the SP did not field a candidate as per an alliance understanding] was more than the BJP's vote.
