SP-BSP alliance poses no challenge for BJP in UP, says Adityanath

A day after arch-rivals Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) announced their pre-poll alliance in the run up to the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday asserted the tie-up was not a challenge for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the state.

“The SP-BSP alliance will have no impact in UP politics…actually, it is good that they have joined hands, since it would be easier to trounce them in elections,” Adityanath said at a programme organised by a media organisation here.

In fact, the CM advised the SP and BSP to merge rather than just forge an alliance ahead of the polls. “The two parties have in the past formed governments in UP and the people of the state are well aware of their respective rule, which has been marked with riots, anarchy, rampant corruption and incidents of crime. The people will them a befitting reply.”

He also termed the SP-BSP alliance as bereft of any leader and sought to know who would be projected as Prime Ministerial candidate by the alliance.

“In 2014, SP had projected Mulayam Singh Yadav as their PM candidate. Now, Akhilesh (SP president) should declare if Mulayam or Mayawati (BSP president) is the PM candidate of the alliance,” he added.

Taking a swipe at Akhilesh, Adityanath said the SP chief was already on a weak footing in the alliance and even if Mayawati had offered him only 10 seats, Yadav would have conceded to the alliance.

“Akhilesh knows very well that it is difficult for him to retain the Kannauj parliamentary seat (currently held by Yadav’s wife Dimple) in the poll, leave aside Etawah and Mainpuri,” he claimed.

Yesterday, Mayawati and Akhilesh had announced the pre-poll alliance, which gave the two parties 38 seats each of the total 80 Lok Sabha constituencies in UP to fight, while leaving 2 seats of Amethi and Rae Bareli for Congress. The decision on the remaining 2 seats would be announced soon.

The alliance also shut the door for Congress with Mayawati alleging the grand old party does not transfer its votes to partners in such tie-ups. She said the BSP-SP alliance was long term and permanent, and that it would carry forward for the 2022 UP assembly poll as well. “Our alliance will take away the sleeps of the ‘guru-chela’,” she said while referring to the duo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah.

Meanwhile, Adityanath stressed that Modi was the supreme leader of BJP and the party would fight the poll dwelling upon the sterling performance of the central government during the past almost 5 years of his rule and win more than 282 seats alone.

He referred to the infamous Lucknow Guest House incident, in which Mayawati was allegedly attacked by SP leaders after BSP decided to withdraw support from the SP-BSP government in UP helmed by Mulayam, saying the two parties must clarify with regards to their past acrimonious statements against each other.

The CM said his government had provided a congenial business atmosphere in UP and investments worth almost Rs 2 trillion would flow before he completes two years in power, while government jobs totalling 250,000 be provided to the youth.