In conversation with The Indian Express, Imran Masood, prominent Samajwadi Party (SP) leader from Western Uttar Pradesh, blamed the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) after BJP's victory in the UP polls. "The question [of vote divide] is no longer one of minority and majority. It has been done by the BJP just to create a divide. It is a 100 per cent fact that the BSP’s votes transferred to the BJP and it benefited the BJP in close contests with the SP," he said. Before the polls, Masood had switched from the Congress to SP.
Masood had long been arguing for a tie-up between the Congress and Samajwadi Party for the upcoming Assembly polls. “First, we have to think are we [Congress] capable of fighting alone against BJP in Uttar Pradesh and the answer is 'no'. Then, definitely, we should ally with the Samajwadi Party to defeat BJP. Honestly, if we have to fight in Uttar Pradesh, then we have to fight together,” Masood was quoted as saying in 2021 by Times Now.
Masood had courted controversy in 2014 when he threatened to kill Narendra Modi when the BJP leader was campaigning to be prime minister. Masood was arrested for the comments. Despite the publicity from the controversy, Masood has had little luck in the elections, losing from Saharanpur in both the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
Masood had won from the Muzaffarabad assembly seat in 2007 as an independent. He fought from Nakur in the 2012 assembly polls on a Congress ticket and lost. He joined the SP in 2013, only to return to the Congress the following year.
