After the recent assembly election results, the BSP and SP—sans the Congress—have decided to form an alliance in Uttar Pradesh. An announcement in this regard will be made on January 15, the birthday of the BSP chief Mayawati, according to party insiders. They say that an agreement has been reached in this regard.
In Uttar Pradesh, as per the decided formula, the BSP will contest 38 parliamentary seats, and the SP in 37. The remaining seats will be divided between the RLD (Rashtriya Lok Dal) and smaller outfits. It has also been decided that, in Rae Bareli and Amethi, the home turf of the Congress, the alliance will not field any candidate.
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Till now, in political circles, it was presumed that the grand alliance will stop the BJP juggernaut in the parliamentary polls. But, the decision to exclude the Congress has given rise to scepticism.
In a recent statement, SP national president Akhilesh Yadav made it clear that he might not agree to the choice of Rahul Gandhi as the prime ministerial candidate. Other members of the alliance might not agree to this decision, he said. It is amply clear that the party is not in favour of contesting the 2019 Lok Sabha polls under the aegis of the Congress.
The RLD would be given three seats in west UP, where it has a strong presence. They could possibly be given Bagpat, Kairana and Mathura parliamentary seats. That Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati did not participate in the oath-taking ceremonies of the three states where the Congress formed government recently, adds to the speculation. It may be recalled that the SP and the Congress had fought together in the last UP assembly polls, but the outcome was a disaster.
