UP: SP, BSP near pact for contesting 37 Lok Sabha seats each

Mayawati with Akhilesh (File) BSP chief Mayawati (right) with SP leader Akhilesh Yadav | Bhanu Prakash Chandra

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati and Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav on Friday moved closer to finalise the seat-sharing formula between their two parties for Uttar Pradesh ahead of the Lok Sabha polls this year.

Sources in the Samajwadi Party said Yadav met Mayawati in New Delhi to discuss the final nitty-gritty of the proposed alliance. Though there was no official word from the Samajwadi Party and the BSP, the sources claimed the two Uttar Pradesh-based political outfits will contest 37 Lok Sabha seats each.

The northern state has 80 Lok Sabha seats, the most for any state.

The sources added the remaining six seats would be left for the Congress, Rashtriya Lok Dal and other smaller parties.

On New Year's Eve, Yadav had told reporters there would be “a confluence of thoughts” in Uttar Pradesh and very soon people would know about it when quizzed about a possible tie-up between the BSP and Samajwadi Party.

Yadav had also expressed his displeasure at the lone SP MLA not being accommodated in the Kamal Nath cabinet in Madhya Pradesh, despite the party extending support to the Congress. Yadav claimed the Congress's action in Madhya Pradesh, "cleared the path for Uttar Pradesh", in a possible hint the grand old party may not be favourably accommodated in the BSP-Samajwadi Party alliance in Uttar Pradesh.