BSP to support SP candidates for Phulpur, Gorakhpur LS seats on Mar 11

In a significant move, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leaders on Sunday announced their support for the Samajwadi Party (SP) candidates in the March 11 bypolls to Phulpur and Gorakhpur Lok Sabha seats to defeat the BJP.

The decision was taken at BSP leaders' meetings at Gorakhpur and Allahabad and announced by the party's coordinators. The party leaders said that they would not share stage with the Samajwadi Party.

BSP supremo Mayawati, however, later scotched speculation about the possibility of alliance between the two parties for 2019 Lok Sabha polls, at least for now.

She said that any talk of alliance between the BSP and the Samajwadi Party (SP) in Uttar Pradesh for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls is false and baseless.

There have been suggestions that opposition parties should field common candidates against the national Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the next Lok Sabha polls.