Lucknow: Once arch rivals Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party announced on Saturday a tie-up in Uttar Pradesh for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, sharing 38 seats each and keeping the Congress out of the alliance. The parties, however, said they would not field candidates in Amethi and Rae Bareli, represented by Congress president Rahul Gandhi and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi.
They also left two seats out of the 80 in the state for smaller allies, without naming them. But there have been talks with the Rashtriya Lok Dal. Making the announcement jointly with SP president Akhilesh Yadav here, BSP chief Mayawati mocked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah. "This press conference will rob the guru-chela of their sleep," she said.
"I have full confidence that just as our alliance defeated the BJP in the Lok Sabha bypolls, we will crush the saffron party in the general elections," she said, referring to the BJP's defeat in Phulpur, Gorakhpur and Kairana parliamentary by-polls.
In 2014, the BJP had won 71 seats in Uttar Pradesh while its ally Apna Dal bagged two. The SP won five seats and the Congress two, while the BSP drew a blank.
Explaining why the Congress was not included in the alliance, Mayawati said that during that party's rule over the years, poverty, unemployment and corruption grew and there were scams in defence deals.
"Just as the Bofors scam uprooted the Congress, the BJP will witness the same fate because of its involvement in the Rafale scam," she said, referring to the graft allegations against the BJP in a deal for French military aircraft. See P4