SP, BSP agree ‘in principle’ on alliance

LUCKNOW: The Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party have agreed to an alliance ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, an SP leader said Saturday.
A formal announcement on the “gathbandhan” between the two Uttar Pradesh-based parties may take place later this month, SP’s national spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary told PTI. The state BJP called the development “opportunistic” and “anti-people”. Chaudhary said Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav and BSP chief Mayawati had given their “in-principle approval” to the alliance after a series of meetings between them. The two leaders also met Friday, he said. Talks are on with other parties as well, the spokesperson said. “There has been an in-principle approval for the gathbandhan. And there is a possibility that an announcement in this regard will be made this month,” Chaudhary said. “A number of meetings between SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and BSP supremo Mayawati have already been held. Yesterday too, both leaders met in Delhi.” “Talks are going on to accommodate some smaller parties in the alliance,” he said. He admitted that the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), which has a presence in western UP, is among these parties. When asked about the possible inclusion of Congress in the UP alliance, Chaudhary said, “This will be decided by Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati.”
But he added the alliance will not field candidates in Amethi and Raebareli, leaving the two Lok constituencies for Congress president Rahul Gandhi and United Progress Alliance chief Sonia Gandhi. The BJP dubbed the coming closer of the two parties “opportunistic”. “This is an opportunistic alliance and it is completely anti-people. The BJP will register massive wins in UP in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections,” Hero Bajpai told reporters here. (PTI)