In party booklet, Mayawati blames Akhilesh for BSP-SP alliance falling apart in 2019; SP hits back

In a booklet being distributed among BSP workers, Mayawati has claimed the 2019 alliance with the Samajwadi Party failed because Akhilesh Yadav stopped receiving her phone calls following the combine’s dismal result in the general elections. Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav hit back on Thursday, saying no one had any clue that the alliance was coming apart and that he had dialled the BSP chief to know why the tie-up ended.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP and its allies won 64 out of 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state while the BSP-SP combine could manage just 15. The Congress won only one seat.

However, in 2024, the SP joined hands with the Congress and the combine won 43 Lok Sabha seats in the state. The BJP won 33 seats while the BSP drew a blank.

The BSP’s initiative to connect with the party cadre by distributing the 59-page booklet is seen as an effort to regain its lost political ground in Uttar Pradesh after a series of electoral setbacks. By-polls to 10 assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh, whose date is yet to be announced, would be politically important for the party.

In the booklet, Mayawati said, “The SP-BSP pact in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls was aimed at checking the BJP from coming to power at the Centre.”

“However, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav was so dejected with the results of the elections in which BSP won 10 seats and the SP five that he stopped taking calls from BSP chief and other senior leaders. Thus a decision was made to sever ties with the SP without compromising one’s self-respect,” the booklet stated.

The claim, however, was met with an instant rebuttal from Yadav. At a press conference in Lucknow on Thursday, the Samajwadi Party chief said, “When the alliance was called off, I was addressing a rally in Azamgarh and both SP and BSP cadres were present there. None had a clue that the alliance was coming apart.” “I had myself dialled (BSP chief) to ask why the alliance was coming unstuck. I needed a response to prepare myself for media queries after the rally,” he said. Yadav said that at times some things are said to divert people’s attention. The booklet was initially distributed among the BSP cadre at the party’s national executive meeting in Lucknow on August 27 where she was unanimously re-elected party chief for the sixth consecutive term. In it, Mayawati also referred to the infamous “guest house” incident of June 2, 1995, when she escaped an assault on her life and blamed the then SP leadership for the attack and vandalism. In 1995 Akhilesh Yadav’s father Mulayam Singh Yadav was the Samajwadi Party’s top leader. “After surviving the murder attempt, the BSP went on to form its first government with the help of anti-Samajwadi Parties. The BSP continued to maintain distance from SP after that. But when Akhilesh Yadav approached with an alliance offer, the two parties entered into a pre-poll pact,” Mayawati said in the booklet. BSP’s state chief Vishwanath Pal said the idea behind distributing the booklet among the cadre is to make them and the supporters understand the party’s line and policy.