SP not averse to forming grand alliance in UP with Maya

Samajwadi Party (SP) on Friday dropped hints that it was not averse to joining hands with the BSP to form a grand alliance in Uttar Pradesh to ''thwart'' the BJP from forming a government after 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Senior SP leader Shivpal Singh Yadav said in Azamgarh, the Lok Sabha constituency of SP patron Mulayam Singh Yadav, that the country needed a ''secular government''.

''Mayawati (BSP supremo) can not fight the BJP on her own,'' Shivpal said. He, however, did not reveal if Congress would also be part of a possible grand alliance in UP.

He said that the next Lok Sabha polls were still two years away. ''We have plenty of time to deliberate on the issue (grand alliance),'' he remarked.

Shivpal's remarks assume significance as he was considered to be close to Mulayam. ''The remarks show that Mulayam has also agreed to join hands with BSP,'' said a senior SP leader here.

SP supremo Akhilesh Yadav has already made it clear that he will have no problems in allying with the BSP and Congress to take on the BJP in 2019.

''One can imagine the fate of BJP if SP, Congress and BSP join hands in UP,'' he had said while making a speech in the UP state legislative council a couple of days back.

SP leaders here said that the efforts to form a grand alliance should continue. ''We must prove that Nitish Kumar's departure from our ranks has no impact on the alliance efforts,'' the SP leader added.

Whether a grand alliance in UP could be in the offing would be clear from the forthcoming Lok Sabha by-polls at Phulpur and Gorakhpur seats. The two seats, which were held by UP deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya and chief minister Yogi Adityanath, would fall vacant after their resignations.

A section of the SP, BSP and Congress leaderships has floated the idea of presenting a united front to BJP in the by-polls.