BSP to go Solo in 2024, Mayawati Brushes Off Rumours of Alliance With INDIA Bloc, NDA
Mayawati, who had served as the 18th chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, turned 68 years old on Monday, and said she had no plan to retire from politics. (File photo)
Lucknow: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati on Monday brushed off rumours that her party would ally with the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) or the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Addressing a press conference in Lucknow on her birthday on Monday, the BSP leader said that her party would contest the upcoming Lok Sabha election alone, claiming that her party's experiences with alliances “have never been beneficial”. Mayawati, however, did not rule out a post-poll alliance.
'"BSP will not go in alliance with anyone. Our experience with alliances has never been beneficial for us and we suffer more losses from alliances than gains. For this reason, most of the parties in the country want to form an alliance with BSP," she said, asserting that an alliance can be considered after the elections. If possible, BSP can extend its support after the elections, she said.
Mayawati, who had served as the 18th chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, turned 68 years old on Monday, and said she had no plan to retire from politics.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BSP had allied with the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD). While the BSP won 10 seats with a vote share of 19.43%, the SP could win only five with a vote share of 17.96%. The RLD could not win any seat. The party is working on a dalit-OBC-Muslim alliance to regain its lost ground in the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
In the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, the BSP-led by Mayawati managed to win only one of the 403 Assembly seats. However, the party managed to secure the third-highest vote share by bagging 12.9% of the total votes polled in the state elections, according to Election Commission figures.
In the 2017 Assembly polls, the BSP had contested all 403 seats and won only 19 while its deposit was forfeited on 81 seats. The party had polled over 22% of the total votes cast in 2017.
Last year, in July, the BSP chief had indicated that her party would fight Lok Sabha polls solo in 2024, as well as state legislative Assembly polls alone.
Meanwhile, the Congress reacted sharply to BSP's decision to contest Lok Sabha alone and said, "We welcome her decision, but today's political scenario is such that all Opposition parties should have come together to fight against the BJP which only got around 37.8% of votes. It was important for the rest of the parties to consolidate the remaining 62% of the votes to defeat the BJP," Pramod Tiwari, senior Congress leader, told reporters in a press conference.
Invited For Ayodhya Event
BSP supremo Mayawati on Monday confirmed that she had received an invitation for the January 22 consecration ceremony at the Ram temple in Ayodhya and was grateful for it, but had not yet decided if she would attend the event because of certain party programmes.
"Our party has no objection to whatever programme is going to be organised on January 22 regarding the Ayodhya Ram temple and we welcome it. In the future, if any such programme is held regarding Babri Masjid, our party will have no objection to that also," she said adding that BSP was a secular party and respected all religions
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