Bahujan Samaj Party Chief Mayawati is holding a key meeting here on Saturday with the party’s Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh units to discuss the BSP’s preparations and strategies for the 2024 general elections.
Earlier, Mayawati held a meeting with the BSP’s UP office bearers in May after suffering a defeat in Uttar Pradesh local body polls. “All the big and small office bearers, divisional and district presidents etc. of the UP state have been invited to Lucknow in order to make a concrete strategy to face these fierce anti-people challenges and to start preparing for the Lok Sabha general elections from now onwards. Special meeting tomorrow,” the BSP supremo had tweeted.
The BSP which had bagged two mayoral seats in 2017, failed to even open its account this time. Its councillors were reduced from 147 to 85 and Municipal Council Chairpersons went from 29 to 16. The number of Palika Parishad members also fell from 262 to 191. While the Nagar Panchayat Chairpersons got reduced from 45 to 37 and members from 218 to 215.
Meanwhile, on Friday, dismissing speculation of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) reuniting with the BJP, SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal said there is no question of reunion with the BJP.
The Shiromani Akali Dal had been a close ally of the BJP in Punjab and had fought many state elections together. But the SAD had broken its alliance with the BJP over three farm laws that were eventually repealed.
“We have an alliance with the BSP, so how is this question even arising?”, Badal asked.