Mahagathbandhan gone, for now.
Putting a lid to speculation about whether BSP is contemplating to go alone in Uttar Pradesh after SP-BSP-RLD's Mahagathbandhan failed to contain saffron surge in Uttar Pradesh, Mayawati has made her decision public.
BSP supremo said: "Ever since SP-BSP coalition took place, SP Chief Akhilesh Yadav & his wife Dimple Yadav have given me a lot of respect. I also forgot all our differences in the interest of the nation, & gave them respect. Our relation isn't only for politics, it'll continue forever.".
Explaining her decision, Mayawati said, "However, we can't ignore political compulsions. In the results of Lok Sabha elections in UP, base vote of Samajwadi Party, the 'Yadav' community, didn't support the party. Even strong contenders of SP were defeated. "
Keeping the window open on future reconciliation, Mayawati said, "It's not a permanent break. If we feel in future that 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've decided to fight the by-elections alone."
Reacting to the development, SP Chief Akhilesh Yadav said that he will think deeply over it and they will be contesting in all the 11 seats in the bypolls if there is no alliance in place.
SO-BSP-RLD's combined might was not enough to take on BJP which went on to win majority seats in Uttar Pradesh in the Lok Sabha elections logging an impressive 50% voteshare.
The BJP won 62 of 80 seats in the state while the 'gathbandhan' bagged just 15 with the BSP winning 10 and the SP five. The Congress got one seat and the Apna Dal (S) two. In 2014, the BSP could not even manage one seat.
Expectedly, BJP is mocking the plight of the alliance. "SP-BSP is an unprincipled alliance. People of Uttar Pradesh have completely rejected this alliance and gave it a result that led to its collapse," BJP spokesperson G V L Narasimha Rao
11 bypolls to Assembly will be held soon as the respective MLAs won in Lok Sabha polls.
With agency inputs
1. Mayawati asked her cadres to prepare to fight alone
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BSP chief Mayawati on Monday said the Lok Sabha poll drubbing in Uttar Pradesh was due to the "poor performance" of the alliance with the SP and asked party leaders and workers to be prepared to contest the assembly by-elections on their own, remarks that have raised questions over the future of the 'gathbandhan'.
At a meeting of the Bahujan Samaj Party's Uttar Pradesh unit here, she also asked office bearers, MLAS and newly-elected MPs to not depend on the alliance to win votes but to improve the party's organisation.
According to some of those present in the meeting, Mayawati also referred to the family feud in the Yadav clan, saying after Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav's younger brother Shivpal decided to contest separately the community votes were not transferred to the BSP, and the SP could not even save its "family seats".
While Akhilesh Yadav's wife Dimple lost the election by over 12,000 votes in Kannauj, his two cousins Dharmendra Yadav and Akshay Yadav also lost from Badaun and Ferozabad constituencies respectively.
She told the gathering at the party headquarters here that the BSP won 10 seats in UP due to its traditional vote bank and the votes of Samajwadi Party could not get transferred to its candidates.
2. Akhilesh said they lost to BJP's money power
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Terming the contest of 2019 Lok Sabha elections as "a race between a Ferrari and a bicycle", Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Monday said that the BJP did not win elections on the basis of development.
"We have lost the elections, but even today I challenge our adversaries to compare their development record with the Samajwadi development. They will not stand a chance. They have not won the election for development but for other reasons," the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said.
"This race was between a Ferrari and a bicycle. Who used to be on television every day? Who owned the television? They played with and infiltrated our minds," he added.
3. Mayawati big gainer in failed alliance
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While the alliance may have not reaped expected benefit, but it certainly gave a second lease of life to Mayawati who was down and out after two drubbing in 2014 Lok Sabha and 2017 Assembly elections.
10 BSP candidates won up from zero in 2014, and while Mayawati has to wait another day to fulfill her dream of becoming the PM, 10 seats give her some sort of authority to make her point heard in national politics.
Whereas SP got only five seats, same as last time. So the alliance failed to bring any positive effect to SP's future. This runs contrary to conventional wisdom that BSP normally doesn't gain in an alliance, the other party does. Here, according to Mayawati, SP couldn't hold on to its Yadav votebank. The question to be raised is how did BSP win additional seats. Did its votebase increase or SP's Muslim vote bank helped them.
As of today, even Mayawati has hold over the Jatavas among the Dalit votebank. The rest have slowly shifted to BJP.
