New Delhi, (Samajweekly) The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which has been left with only four MLAs in Uttar Pradesh Assembly, has reiterated that it will go solo in the 2022 polls as it has an “alliance” with the state’s population.
The BSP has lost 15 of its 19 MLAs to other parties.
BSP chief Mayawati has said that like 2007, the party will come to power with complete majority as it has formed an “alliance with the people of the state”.
BSP national spokesperson Sudhindra Bhadoria told IANS: “The party has decided to go it alone. It will not stitch alliance with any other party.”
On forming an alliance with the Congress, Bhadoria said that talks were on, but whether the alliance will happen or not is yet to be seen.
Though the Congress has opened its door for the BSP, the latter does not want to enter into alliance with any big party, especially the SP.
In 1996, the BSP fought the polls in alliance with the Congress. But, for the 2022 polls, the BSP seems to be reluctant in having an alliance with the Congress, thereby ‘proving that the previous alliance was a failure’.
Alliance politics in the state started in 1993 when the BSP and the SP challenged the BJP. The SP-BSP combine had won 176 seats, of which the SP had won 67.
But after the 1995 Guest House scandal, the SP-BSP relationship turned sour. After that the BSP continued to take support from the BJP and Congress and tried to strengthen the party.
In 1996, the BSP fought in alliance with the Congress and the former bagged 67 seats and its vote percentage increased to 27 per cent.
In 2017, it formed an alliance with the SP and the Congress, but did not get anything as the Modi wave swept the state.
