Lucknow: Keeping her party in a state of indecision regarding the alliance with Samajwadi Party for the upcoming 2019 Lok Sabha is weighing heavy on Ms Mayawati’s shoulders.
Apart from claiming that she was ready for an alliance in UP but only if her party was given a “respectable number of seats”, Ms Mayawati has not bothered to clarify the number of seats she considers “respectable”.
Sources, in both the parties, say that the BSP has agreed to around 47-50 seats and the Samajwadi Party is ready to let Ms Mayawati take the lion’s share. However, the numbers would then leave no room for Congress and RLD unless they agree to two seats each.
In 2014, the BSP had not won even a single seat but ranked second in 32 seats. The Samajwadi Party won five seats in 2014 and ranked second in 31 seats.
Ms Mayawati has also not yet given her list of the constituencies where her party would be contesting and this is delaying the selection of candidates in BSP.
“Candidates are unwilling to contribute to the party fund until their names are cleared. Besides we do not even know whether our seat is in the BSP list or not. This is very unlike Ms Mayawati because she is known to finalize her candidates almost a year ahead of the elections so that the candidates get ample time to tour his constituency, assuage the feelings of disgruntled workers and even identity the trouble spots,” said a ticket seeker in the BSP.
