Maya reviews alliance, to go solo in UP bypolls

BSP chief Mayawati on Tuesday announced that her party will fight 11 bypolls in Uttar Pradesh alone. "We can't ignore political compulsions. In the results of Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh, the 'Yadav' community — base vote of the Samajwadi Party — didn't support the party. Even strong contenders of the SP were defeated," said the BSP supremo.

On the SP-BSP coalition, Mayawati said: "It's not a permanent break. If we feel in future that the SP chief succeeds in his political work, we'll again work together. But if he doesn't succeed, it'll be good for us to work separately. So, we have decided to fight the by-elections alone."

At a review meeting of the party held in Delhi on Monday, Mayawati, in a major departure from her party's policy, declared that the BSP would put up its candidates in the forthcoming UP assembly bypolls on 12 seats, which had fallen vacant after election of several MLAs to the Lok Sabha.

Sources in the BSP said that Mayawati also told the party leaders that the SP "failed" to get its votes transferred to the BSP nominees resulting in their defeat at many places.

"The Yadav community did not vote for Akhilesh... it supported the BJP as a result of which even Akhilesh's wife Dimple Yadav lost in Kannauj LS constituency," the BSP supremo said at the meeting.

Incidentally, the BSP, which had drawn a blank in the 2014 LS polls, managed to win 10 seats in the state in the just-concluded general elections, mainly riding on the SP support. The SP, on the other hand, suffered a severe loss by winning only five seats, while three of the Yadav family members, including Dimple, were defeated in their bastions.

Once arch-rivals, the two had declared earlier that their alliance would continue irrespective of the outcome of the polls. Interestingly, the BSP had not contested assembly by-polls in the state in past for over a decade. SP President Akhilesh, however, remained hopeful that the alliance would continue. On Monday, he addressed a rally in Azamgarh, his Lok Sabha constituency. Several senior BSP leaders, including the party MP from the neighbouring Lalganj LS seat, Sangeeta Azad, were also present.