BSP, SP may now join Cong-led grand alliance

Shahira Naim

Tribune News Service

Lucknow, December 11

The BSP and Samajwadi Party, that had kept away from the 21-party Opposition meeting in Delhi a day prior to counting, are now likely to join the grand alliance in Uttar Pradesh ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. Significantly, the BSP has announced not to support the BJP. 

Mayawati has already summoned her winning MLAs to Delhi. In the past, there have been instances of BSP MLAs crossing over to the ruling party. But more than keeping her flock together, she is likely to drive a  hard bargain for UP in lieu of her party’s support to the Congress in Madhya Pradesh and to a Congress-led grand alliance at the national level. 

Congress’ Kamal Nath, it is learnt, has already contacted Mayawati for support in MP.

The Samajwadi Party too has announced its support for the Congress in MP. The SP in alliance with the Gondwana Ganatantra Party has won one seat in Chhattisgarh. 

The Mayawati-led party has not performed as per expectations. But it has more or less retained its voter share of an average 4 per cent in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh and cornered  2 per cent votes in Telangana.  A few days ago, both the BSP and SP had spurned the Congress, calling it ‘arrogant’. SP president Akhilesh Yadav had declared that if needed, he would “remove the hand (Congress symbol) off the cycle (SP symbol) handle”.

For the BSP, the Congress success in Chhattisgarh comes as a setback of sorts. Mayawati had announced to form the next government by crossing the halfway mark along with her new-found ally Ajit Jogi’s Janata Congress Chhattisgarh. A senior BSP MLA admitted that the party had “overestimated” its potential.

The poll outcome is a lesson for the SP too — that it must now follow the BSP blindly. A senior party leader remarked: “Akhilesh, who enjoyed a good rapport with the Congress president, seems to have acted in haste. If we want to keep the BJP at bay, we have no choice but to support the Congress.”