Fake news of BSP’s tie-up for UP polls being spread: Mayawati

Lucknow: BSP chief Mayawati on Wednesday reiterated that the BSP will not form any alliance with any party for the 2027 UP Assembly elections and will contest on its strengths.In a statement posted on her X account, she dismissed the alliance buzz as ‘fake news' being spread by a section of media and cautioned her cadre not to get swayed and keep walking unaffected like an elephant — also the BSP symbol. She added that such rumours will fly thick and fast as elections draw near and asked the cadre to only believe the statements issued by the party's central leadership.
Mayawati's reiteration was seen as a rebuttal to SP chief Akhilesh Yadav's claim that SP-BSP ties are very old. He made the remark when former Mayawati confidante Naseemuddin Siddiqui, who later switched to the Congress, joined the Samajwadi Party earlier this week.Without naming any party, the BSP chief said the alliance rumours were being circulated by her opponents who want to wean away BSP's Dalit voters. "BSP cadre know that Congress, SP and BJP have ideologies against Babasaheb Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar. Their policy to have an alliance with the Ambedkarite BSP is only their electoral and political interest, which is to get the Dalit votes. But any alliance with them only damages the BSP," she said."The media, like some political leaders, should not indulge in spreading canards to avoid making fun of itself," Mayawati said, adding that she has made it clear several times, even through public forums, that the BSP will contest UP elections alone. "After announcing this, especially during the BSP's massive rally in Lucknow on Oct 9 last year, there should be no scope for such discussions or debate on the issue," she said.BSP and SP had stitched an alliance in UP for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. BSP contested 38 seats and won 10, while the SP contested 37 seats and won 5. Though the BSP tally went up from 0 in 2014 LS elections to 10 seats in 2019 with 19.2% vote share, Mayawati's main reason for staying away from any alliance since then has been the "non-transfer of other party's votes to BSP candidates".In support of her claim, she cited examples of the 1993 UP Assembly elections in which the BSP and SP fought in alliance and her party won only 67 seats. In the 1996 UP elections, BSP formed an alliance with Congress and won only 67 seats. The party contested the 2007 UP elections alone and formed the majority govt after winning 206 of the 403 seats and polling over 30.4% votes.While being reluctant towards alliances, Mayawati has often cited the June 2, 1995, guest house incident in Lucknow, when she was attacked by SP supporters after her party snapped ties with it.During the Oct 9 rally in Lucknow, Maywati had accused the SP govt, which succeeded her govt in 2012, of hoarding the revenue generated from sale of tickets at Dalit memorials built by her govt and not spending it on their maintenance.Mayawati had criticised Akhilesh Yadav for paying tributes to Dalit icons on occasions related to them. She also accused him of not answering her phone calls after the 2019 LS elections, when she snapped the alliance with the SP to uphold BSP's "honour", she said on X.‘Modi govt has allotted me new type 8 bungalow in Delhi'Lucknow: Mayawati said that since she is a former CM and BSP chief, a new Type 8 bungalow has been allotted to her in Delhi by the Modi govt after a long wait. However, she said, people needed to be cautious of the rumours being spread in this regard with the intention of damaging the party and misleading them. She said that after the Lucknow guest house incident of 1995 the then Congress govt at the centre had upgraded her security. "That threat has only increased over the years," she said. "I was allotted a Type 8 bungalow by the Congress govt. Later, Modi govt allotted other bungalows to me but I did not take possession. Even when I took possession, I vacated them in a few days because of security concerns," said Mayawati.