Maya-Akhilesh to address joint election rallies

Apparently apprehending that transferring the votes of their supporters to the other was not going to be an easy task, Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav and BSP supremo Mayawati, who announced their alliance in Uttar Pradesh in the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls on Saturday, would be addressing joint election rallies in different parts of the state.

According to SP sources here, the two leaders are likely to address around two dozen joint election rallies covering almost all the important towns and districts in different regions of the state.

"The rallies will be held at all the divisional headquarters... a detailed program is under preparation and is likely to be finalised in the next few days," said a senior SP leader while speaking to DH here on Monday.

The leader said that the joint rallies were aimed at sending a message to the workers of both the parties.

"Joint rallies will convey the message to the cadre and supporters of SP and BSP that their top leaders are united... the rallies will also galvanise the workers of the two parties at ground level," he said.

Though the SP leader rejected apprehensions that there could be problems in transferring votes of their supporters to the two alliance partners, sources said that there were reports of "unease" among the core vote banks of the two parties.

"We did not encounter any problems in getting the votes of BSP supporters in the three Lok Sabha by-polls in Gorakhpur, Phulpur and Kairana," the SP leader said in a bid to buttress his contention.

Sources, however, said that the two parties "realised" that it was not going to be an easy task and hence the joint rallies of Akhilesh and Mayawati.