A doomed relationship: Why Mayawati called off alliance with Akhilesh

Mayawati's decision to break alliance with SP is triggered by 'social contradictions', fear of losing Dalit votes

Midway into the Lok Sabha polls, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) President Mayawati had unwittingly let out signals that the mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) with its arch rival Samajwadi Party (SP) was unlikely to last long when she rebuked SP workers for their relentless sloganeering at a joint rally in Firozabad district on April 20.

Even as SP President Akhilesh Yadav was seated on the dais, a miffed Mayawati told SP workers to desist from raising slogans while she was speaking, and instead emulate disciplined BSP cadres.

The SP-BSP mahagathbandhan, which was touted as a formidable combination against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, was