Akhilesh Yadav clears the speculations around the alliance and confirms continuing it for 2019 polls. (Source: PTI)
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav reiterated that the alliance between SP and Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) will continue for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections as well.
Yadav while addressing a rally Sunday said, “Our alliance with BSP will continue in 2019, even if we have to give up a few seats we will do it. We have to ensure BJP is defeated.” This news comes after the joint-opposition victory in the recent Lok Sabha by-elections in Kairana, Gorakhpur and Phulpur as there have been questions about the “grand alliance” sustainability.
An analysis of constituency-wise data from the 2017 Assembly elections, the latest in the state, shows the NDA could lose as many as 50 of its 73 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh if SP and BSP votes are combined. SP-BSP could win at least 57 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats, and the BJP-Apna Dal only 23.
The SP and BSP contested both 2014 and 2017 separately. The SP won five seats and BSP zero in 2014; in the Assembly elections, the SP won 47 seats and the BSP 19 in the 403-member House. The SP had an alliance with the Congress in 2017, which won seven seats. The BJP and its allies, Apna Dal and Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party, won 325 Assembly seats.