SP BSP Alliance

Looking to consolidate Muslim votes, SP and Congress have joined hands for the parliamentary polls. Radhika Ramaseshan explains what it means for their LS prospects

UP Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya alleged that the opposition alliance is forged among the goondas and mafia of the state.

SP's behaviour after the elections has forced the BSP to think, will it be possible to defeat the BJP in future, said Mayawati

The SP chief said the experiment exposed the weaknesses of such an association, but also offered some valuable lessons

Eleven assembly bypolls are due in UP after the respective MLAs won the Lok Sabha polls

Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati had jointly announced the alliance in January, saying the SP and the BSP will contest 38 seats each out of the 80 in Uttar Pradesh

Akhilesh claimed he was stopped at Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport in a bid to prevent him from visiting Allahabad to attend an oath-taking ceremony at Allahabad University

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

The parties kept the Congress out of the alliance, but said they will not field candidates in Amethi and Rae Bareli, represented by Congress president Rahul Gandhi and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi

The alliance was in my mind since the day BJP leaders made obscene comments on Mayawati, says Akhilesh Yadav

SP-BSP alliance played a big role in the recent Lok Sabha by-elections in Kairana and Noorpur in Uttar Pradesh

The ruling BJP is rattled by the SP-BSP alliance because the two represent over 50 per cent of the state's population

On ties with the Congress, with which SP had an electoral truck in the last Assembly elections, Yadav said the good relations would continue

Mayawati's Rajya Sabha term ends in April 2018, and she will need the SP to get re-elected