Now, RLD says it too will go solo in bypolls
With the RLD on Wednesday declaring it will also go solo in the forthcoming Uttar Pradesh bypolls and the UP alliance falling to pieces, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday described the alliance as a “trial” and said it may not always be successful but helps in knowing the shortcomings.
BSP chief Mayawati had on Tuesday declared that her party will fight the Assembly bypolls alone, prompting Akhilesh to say his party too will go solo.
“Yes, there are trials, and sometimes you are not successful, but at least you can know your shortcomings,” Akhilesh told reporters here on Wednesday.
The SP chief also said that he respected Mayawati irrespective of the political equation between the parties. “I stand by my earlier statement that respecting Mayawati ji is same as respecting me,” he said.
RLD UP president Masood Ahmad told news agency PTI that his party will contest the UP Assembly bypolls on its own whenever they are held. However, it is too early to comment on the political scene of the State, he said.
RLD chief Chaudhary Ajit Singh and Jayant Chaudhary will decide on the number of seats the party will contest and the matter may be discussed during a meeting in the next few days, Ahmad said.
When asked about the RLD’s role in the new political landscape of the State, which sends the highest number of 80 MPs to the Lok Sabha, Ahmad said, “The RLD was with the Samajwadi Party. We got the seats from the quota of Akhilesh.”
The UP RLD chief said the Congress should also be a part of the ‘gathbandhan’.
Eleven Assembly bypolls are due in UP after the respective MLAs won the Lok Sabha polls. Nine of them are from the BJP, and one each from the BSP and the SP.
“The bypolls can be announced any moment now. Under the current conditions in Uttar Pradesh, we have decided to fight the bypolls, which will happen on some seats, all alone,” Mayawati said on Tuesday.
Asserting that the SP’s base vote — meaning “Yadav samaj” — has not stood along with the SP even in areas where they are in high numbers, she said, “If I feel that the SP president is able to fulfil his duties and convert his people into missionaries, then we can still walk together in future. There has been no permanent break.”