In a major development indicating the end of “mahagathbandhan”, BSP supremo Mayawati on Monday confirmed that her party will fight all major elections on its own in future.
She further said the decision to part ways with the Samajwadi Party was taken in the “interest of the party and the movement”.
In a series of tweets in Hindi, Mayawati said her party was compelled to take the decision following SP’s attitude after Lok Sabha polls, making it impossible to win against the BJP with such an alliance.
“But after the Lok Sabha general election, the attitude of the SP compels BSP to think whether it will be possible to defeat the BJP in the future. Hence, for the sake of the party and the movement, the BSP will now fight all elections – big or small – by itself,” the tweet read.
“It is known that all our old grievances with the SP were kept aside, along with the anti-Dalit and ant-BSP decisions taken by the SP government between 2012-17, works carried out that were against reservation in promotion and deteriorating law and order situation – were all kept aside and an alliance was formed in public interest which was honoured completely,” another tweet read.
At a closed-door meeting held on Sunday, Mayawati launched a scathing attack against SP chief Akhilesh Yadav by calling him ‘anti-Muslim.
Mayawati said Akhilesh had asked her to not give tickets to Muslims as it would result in religious polarization.
“But I did not listen to him. When Akhilesh Yadav was the Chief Minister, injustice was done to non-Yadav and Dalits and that is why they did not give votes to the SP. The SP had protested against the promotion of the Dalits also,” she said at a closed-door party meeting.
She further claimed that she did not receive any call from Akhilesh Yadav after the “mahagathbandhan” lost the Lok Sabha polls and it was her who, although being a senior, called him to express sadness over the loss.
The BSP chief also attacked the Yadav family and accused Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav of “working hand in glove with the BJP” to frame her in the Rs. 17-crore Taj corridor case.
Earlier this month, Mayawati said that her party will contest the bypolls on all 11 Assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh alone.
BSP contested the Lok Sabha elections in an alliance with SP and RLD. The alliance won a total of 15 seats, with the BSP winning 10 of the 38 it contested and SP winning five of the 37 it contested. Even Akhilesh Yadav’s wife, Dimple Yadav, lost the Yadav bastion of Kannauj.
RLD failed to win any of the three seats it contested.