Mayawati announces alliance with Akhilesh Yadav ahead of elections, slams door on Congress

New Delhi: Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati and Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav have formally announced their tie-up for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections on Saturday.

At a press conference at Lucknow’s Hotel Taj, the two leaders began their seat-sharing preparations for the upcoming general elections. Both parties will contest 38 seats each out of 80, while two seats have been reserved. The rest two, Amethi and Rae Bareli are for the Congress.

“We (BSP-SP) have decided to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections together, this will lead to a new political revolution in the country,” the BSP chief said.

“The BSP-SP will contest 38 seats each out of 80 seats. We are confident of defeating the BJP unless they tamper with the electronic voting machines," Mayawati said.

Mayawati said that the alliance will not stand to benefit in any way by including the Congress.

“Our party has decided not to forge an alliance with Congress anywhere in the country. Looking at our past experience, when it comes to SP and BSP, our votes get consolidated successfully,” Mayawati said.

“Our votes get transferred to other parties instead of Congress. In such a scenario, Congress gains from us but our own percentage dips,” she added.

In last 2017 state Assembly elections, the Samajwadi Party lost due to their alliance with Congress, the BSP chief added.

In 2014, the BJP had won 71 seats in Uttar Pradesh while its ally Apna Dal bagged two. The Samajwadi Party won 5 seats and the Congress two, while the BSP drew a blank. 

Reacting to the development, senior BJP leader and Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said, "The SP and BSP have allied neither for the country nor for Uttar Pradesh, but for their survival. They know they cannot fight Modi on their own and their opposition to him is the sole base of their alliance." 

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