Akhilesh meets Maya, hints at continuing alliance in UP

Amid gloomy exit polls predictions for the grand alliance in Uttar Pradesh in the just concluded general elections, Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav on Monday met BSP supremo Mayawati and hinted that their alliance would continue.

Though Akhilesh did not speak to the media after the meeting, according to the sources the two leaders discussed the exit polls predictions for UP.

Akhilesh, however, posted a message on his Twitter handle saying that they (alliance) would start preparations for their next battle, apparently hinting at the state assembly polls due in 2022.

Though both SP and BSP leaders rejected the exit polls predictions, the immediate fallout of the same was witnessed when Mayawati cancelled her trip to Delhi during which she was scheduled to meet former Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

''Mayawati has no plans to go to Delhi,'' said a senior BSP leader here on Monday.

A majority of exit polls for UP has predicted that the grand alliance failed to dent the BJP vote bank. Some have given BJP around 65 seats and only 14 to the alliance.

Senior SP leader Udaiveer Singh Yadav, however, claimed that the BJP would be ''wiped out'' in the state and the alliance would win at least 60 seats.

A few regional TV channels also differed with the national media and predicted huge gains for the alliance and a sharp decline in the BJP's tally.

In 2014 LS polls, BJP had won 73 seats with its ally Apna Dal. SP had won five seats while Congress had emerged victorious on only two seats. BSP had drawn a blank.