BJP offers olive branch to BSP amid Maya-Akhilesh verbal duel

Lucknow: In a significant political development ahead of the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls, BJP hinted at building bridges with the BSP amid a sharp verbal duel between BSP supremo Mayawati and Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav.

Mayawati had urged the state government to provide her party an alternative space for BSP office in the state capital, citing threat arising out of the construction of the flyover near the existing office that was built during the SP regime. In response, UP deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya said that the state government was committed to ensure safety of Mayawati.

''Mayawati is former CM of UP and president of BSP [so] we are committed to ensure her safety. SP has always been anti-Dalit. SP leaders would have harmed her during the Guest House incident but BJP fought for her security,'' Maurya said. He was referring to the 1995 attack on Mayawati and other BSP leaders when the party withdrew its support to the then Mulayam Singh Yadav government in the state.

Maurya's observations assume significance as it suggests that BJP wants to keep Mayawati away from the opposition alliance to prevent consolidation of 'anti-BJP' votes even if it means having a tacit understanding with her party in the Lok Sabha polls.

Earlier Mayawati, in a series of post on 'X' (formerly Twitter) slammed Akhilesh for what she termed his party's ''anti-Dalit'' and ''anti-backward'' character and also exerting pressure on the opposition I.N.D.I.A bloc parties not to induct the BSP into the alliance.

''The Samajwadi Party has always been against the Dalits. Its government had constructed a flyover near the state BSP office ... the miscreants could harm the party national president (Mayawati),'' she said in one of the posts.

''We request the state government to provide a separate space for the state BSP office to prevent any unwanted happenings,'' the BSP leader said. Akhilesh shot back by asking Mayawati to approach the Centre and get the flyover demolished if she felt threat from the same.

The SP president, however, appeared to be firm on his stand on not inducting the BSP in the grand opposition alliance. ''Who will guarantee that BSP will remain in the opposition alliance after 2024 LS polls?'' he reportedly said when queried by a scribe in this regard, apparently hinting that Mayawati would not hesitate to support BJP if need arose.