Mayawati sets tone for break up with SP, will contest by-elections

Lucknow: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) President Mayawati on Monday set the tone for the break up of her partys alliance with the Samajwadi Party.

Addressing a meeting of party leaders from Uttar Pradesh in Delhi, Mayawati announced that the BSP would contest the by-elections to 11 Assembly elections in the state on its own.

This clearly means that Mayawati is in no mood to continue the alliance with Samajwadi Party.

Moreover, BSP normally does not contest by-elections. But this time it has announced that it will field candidates in the state by-elections.

Addressing the party meeting, she said the BSP had not benefited from the alliance with the Samajwadi Party. She stated that the transfer of votes between the two parties had not taken place.

She asked party leaders to start short-listing candidates for the 11 by-elections that will be held because these legislators have been elected to the Lok Sabha.

Nine legislators of BJP have won Lok Sabha elections while one legislator each from BSP and SP have been elected to the Lok Sabha.

Meanwhile, state BSP President R.S. Kushwaha told reporters that EVMs were mainly responsible for the poor performance of the BSP in the Lok Sabha elections.

The BSP won 10 Lok Sabha seats from Uttar Pradesh. The party had contest 38 seats.

The Samajwadi Party, on the other hand, had contested 37 seats and could win only five. The Rashtriya Lok Dal had contested three seats and could not win even one.

Interestingly, both Mayawati and SP President Akhilesh Yadav have not said a word on the future of the alliance till now.