Distancing herself from INDIA and the NDA, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati on Wednesday confirmed that her party would contest the Lok Sabha election in 2024 and the state legislative assembly polls alone.
Mayawati confirmed that her party would neither go with the 26-member INDIA alliance nor the 39-member NDA alliance. She said that the BSP would maintain equal distance from both the formations and contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls on its own. Her declaration also put an end to speculations that the BSP would make a pact with the Congress in UP in the next parliamentary elections.
Addressing the press through a video clip here on Wednesday, the 67-year-old leader said her party’s preparations were going in full swing ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
“We will fight the elections alone. We will contest the election on our own in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, and in Haryana, Punjab, and other states we may contest the elections with the regional parties of the state,” the BSP supremo said.
The former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh also launched a scathing attack on Congress and its rechristening of UPA (United Progressive Alliance) as INDIA (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance).
Taking a dig at the Congress, Mayawati said, “The Congress party is forging an alliance with like-minded casteist and capitalist parties to come to power.”
Her criticism extended to the NDA as well, as she asserted, “There is no difference between Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress. Both these alliances –NDA and the renamed UPA – are claiming to come to power.”
The BSP chief asserted that both alliances were making hollow promises and implementing policies that were detrimental to the interests of the poor, Dalits and Muslims.
On Tuesday, Congress along with its other allies rebranded the UPA alliance as Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance, or INDIA. Mayawati, who was not invited to the recent Bengaluru meeting of opposition parties, addressed the media to express her discontent with the political landscape.
Earlier this month, Mayawati held a key meeting with the party’s Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh units to discuss the BSP preparations and strategies for the 2024 general elections. In May, she held a meeting with BSP’s UP office-bearers after suffering a defeat in Uttar Pradesh urban local bodies’ polls.
The BSP contested the 2019 Lok Sabha election in alliance with Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh. It polled 19.43 per cent votes and bagged 10 seats while the SP won five seats. In the 2022 UP assembly election, the BSP polled 12.88 per cent votes but won merely one seat. The party is working on a Dalit-Other Backward Classes-Muslim alliance to regain its lost ground in the 2024 Lok Sabha election.