Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Mayawati said her party may consider about alliance once the elections are over.
Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Putting an end to the months-long speculation of whether the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) will join hands with the INDIA alliance for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, party chief Mayawati on Monday cleared air and said she will fight the polls “solo”.
Addressing a press conference, Mayawati said, “I want to clarify that our party (BSP) will go solo in the upcoming (2024) Lok Sabha polls.”
VIDEO | “I want to clarify that our party (BSP) will go solo in the upcoming (2024) Lok Sabha polls. With the backing of people from backward community, Dalits, tribals and Muslims, we had formed a full majority government in UP in 2007, and that’s why we have decided to contest… pic.twitter.com/oatnx167db
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) January 15, 2024
“With the backing of people from backward community, Dalits, tribals and Muslims, we had formed a full majority government in UP in 2007, and that’s why we have decided to contest the Lok Sabha polls alone. We will maintain a distance with those who are casteist and believe in communalism, and we will not join any alliance,” she said, PTI reported.
Moreover, the BSP chief said that her party may consider about alliance once the elections are over.
“Our experience with alliances has never been beneficial for us and we suffer more losses from alliances. For this reason, most of the parties in the country want to form an alliance with BSP. An alliance can be considered after the elections. If possible, BSP can extend its support after the elections…our party will fight the elections all alone,” she said.
The former UP chief minister also hit out at the Centre and state government- both ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and said that the ruling party trying to make people its ‘slaves’ by providing them with some free ration instead of uplifting them from poverty.
“Instead of uplifting people from poverty and providing them employment, the central and state (UP) governments are providing them with some free ration and trying to make them their salves. However, our government in UP had provided people employment to empower them,” Mayawati said.
She also refuted the claims that she may take a retirement from politics, saying that she will continue to work to strengthen her party.
“Last month, I declared Akash Anand as my political successor following which it was being speculated in media that I may soon retire from politics. However, I want to clarify that it’s not the case, and I will continue to work towards strengthening the party,” she said.
The BSP chief exhorted party leaders and workers to “work with full strength to help the BSP get a favourable verdict” in the 2024 election.
The BSP, a Scheduled Castes-centric party, was a major political force in Uttar Pradesh in the 1990s and 2000s but witnessed a gradual decline over the past decade.
In the 2022 assembly elections, the party polled only 12.8 per cent votes, its lowest in almost three decades.
(With inputs from agencies)