Mayawati open to secular alliances
This is the first time that the BSP is contesting the municipal elections on its party symbol.
Lucknow: Bahujan Samaj Party president Mayawati said on Thursday that she favoured joining hands with secular parties to check “communal parties” in Lok Sabha and state polls but only if her party is given a respectable share of seats.
In a statement issued here, Ms Mayawati said that even for the Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh assembly polls, BSP general secretary Satish Chandra Misra held talks with senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel but the outcome was not encouraging. She said that Mr Misra held detailed talks with Mr Ahmed Patel and was dejected over the results so he has now stopped advocating the idea of an alliance.
“Mr Misra is also unhappy with the stance of the Samajwadi Party in this matter...The past experience with the SP has also not been good”, she added.
Ms Mayawati said that contesting in alliance had not benefited her party in the past, therefore it was better that the BSP contests the assembly and Lok Sabha polls on its own.
“We will work towards increasing support base among the ‘sarv samaj’ like we did in 2007”, she added.
The BSP president had convened a meeting of senior party leaders to discuss the upcoming urban local bodies’ polls on Thursday.
This is the first time that the BSP is contesting the municipal elections on its party symbol.