UP: BSP to Keep Distance From NDA and INDIA, Will Fight LS Polls Solo, Says Mayawati

Lucknow: A day after the Opposition formally named an alliance of 26 parties, and Bharatiya Janata Party held the NDA meet, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) Mayawati said her party would neither go with the 26-member Opposition INDIA (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) alliance nor the 39-member National Democratic Alliance. 

At a press conference here on Wednesday, the BSP leader confirmed that her party would contest the Lok Sabha election in 2024, as well as, state legislative Assembly polls alone.

"We will fight the elections alone. We will contest the election on our own in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and in Haryana, Punjab and other states we can contest elections with the regional state parties," she said. 

She said she would maintain equal distance from both the formations and contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls on her own.

Accusing the Congress for forging an alliance with like-minded “casteist and capitalist” parties to come to power, the BSP supremo further added that BJP was strengthening NDA but "their policies are anti-Muslim and anti-dalit". 

In 2014, the BJP had promised to put Rs 15 lakh in the accounts of every poor, which was not fulfilled, said Mayawati. 

Explaining why she decided to contest the election solo, the BSP supremo said, "Both Congress and BJP parties don’t work for the welfare of the people. They have not done anything for dalits, Muslims, and minorities. All are the same. When they come to power, they forget their promises. They have not fulfilled a single promise made to the people. Be it Congress or BJP. This is the biggest reason why BSP has not joined hands with the Opposition."

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BSP contested in alliance with Samajwadi Party (SP) in Uttar Pradesh. It polled 19.43% votes and bagged 10 seats while SP won five seats. In the 2022 UP Assembly election, the BSP polled 12.88% of votes and bagged only one seat. The party is working on a Dalit-OBC-Muslim alliance to regain its lost ground in the 2024 Lok Sabha election.

Reacting on Mayawati's plan to go solo in upcoming Lok Sabha elections, veteran journalist Tamkin Faiyaz told NewsClick, "BSP is trying to save its previous record in the Lok Sabha elections in UP with the help of its core vote bank and minority vote bank. The party supremo had given the indication in the urban body elections by fielding 11 Muslim mayoral candidates out of 17 seats. Not only this, when it came to joining the leaders of other parties before the elections, even then only Muslim leaders were given preference. Be it Imran Masood or Irfan Malik. Those who left SP and AIMIM and came to BSP."

Read Also: Polarisation, Round-the-Year Groundwork & Modi Helped BJP Win Uttar Pradesh

In the 2022 Assembly polls, the BSP-led by Mayawati managed to win only one of the 403 Assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh. 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.