Will even vote for BJP to defeat SP candidate: Mayawati on UP MLC polls

“When we saw Samajwadi Party’s behaviour towards us after the Lok Sabha election results, we realised that we have committed a big mistake by taking back our 2nd June 1995 case against them and we shouldn’t have joined hands with them. We should’ve thought a bit deeply,” Mayawati said.

Amid speculation that some of her party MLAs could switch sides in Uttar Pradesh, BSP leader Mayawati on Thursday said to ensure defeat of Samajwadi Party candidates in future elections, including those of MLC and Rajya Sabha, her party will vote for BJP or any other party’s candidate. “Any party candidate, who’ll be dominant over SP’s 2nd candidate, will get all BSP MLAs’ vote for sure,” she said. She also said that BSP should not have formed an alliance with the Samajwadi Party before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. BSP and SP had joined hands after a gap of over two decades to contest against the BJP.

“I want to disclose that when we decided to contest polls with Samajwadi Party for Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh, we worked very hard for it but from day-1 of our coalition, SP Chief Akhilesh Yadav kept telling S C Mishra that since BSP-SP had joined hands, I should take back my June 1995 case. When we saw Samajwadi Party’s behaviour towards us after the Lok Sabha election results, we realised that we have committed a big mistake by taking back our 2nd June 1995 case against them and we shouldn’t have joined hands with them. We should’ve thought a bit deeply,” she said, news agency ANI reported. The BSP had won 10 of 38 seats it contested, while SP recorded a victory on 5 out of 37 seats.

इसके बाद भी कुछ बाकी है? pic.twitter.com/WGNxMWq9gh

— Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (@priyankagandhi) October 29, 2020

In 2019, as a “goodwill gesture” on the request of SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, the BSP moved an application in the Supreme Court to withdraw the “infamous” state guest house case of 1995 against Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, the party had said. The incident had sown seeds of two-decade-long rivalry between the two regional parties. In June 2019, Mayawati announced a break-up with its Lok Sabha poll ally.

In a jolt to the BSP on Wednesday, six party MLAs reportedly met Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and later threw hints that they may switch sides. Four of the group of rebels also filed an affidavit, saying their signatures on the party candidate Ramji Gautam’s nomination for the Rajya Sabha polls had been “forged”. The move turned out to be futile with the Returning Officer still accepting Gautam’s nomination as the Bahujan Samaj Party candidate for the November 9 biennial elections for the 10 Uttar Pradesh seats that are falling vacant.

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