BSP will go solo in LS polls; Maya rules out retirement

Amid speculation that on her 68th birthday, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) national president and former CM of UP Mayawati would open her cards for the upcoming general elections, the BSP supremo has announced that she will neither align with the NDA nor the I.N.D.I.A. bloc and will contest the upcoming elections alone.

Mayawati announced this while addressing a press conference in Lucknow on Monday.
She reiterated, “I want to make it clear that the Bahujan Samaj Party will contest the Lok Sabha elections alone and will not form an alliance with any party.”

She also emphasized on the historical support of backward communities, Dalits, tribals, and Muslims, which led to the formation of an absolute majority government in UP in 2007. She made it clear that the party would maintain distance from those with “casteist and communal ideologies”. Reaffirming its stance of not participating in any alliance, She added, “Our experience with alliances has never been beneficial for us, and alliances only cause us more losses.

The BSP chief also clarified on recent speculations about her possible retirement from politics after she declared Akash Anand as her political successor and emphasised that her announcement does not mean her withdrawal from the political arena. Mayawati pledged to continue her efforts to strengthen the party. “Last month, I announced Akash Anand as my political successor, following which there was speculation in the media that I may soon retire from politics. However, I want to clarify that this is not the case, and I will continue to work towards strengthening the party, added Mayawati.

After the failure of the SP-BSP coalition, which could not stop the BJP from sweeping 64 out of 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh during the 2019 polls, the BSP is wary of another alliance, as the BJP has a huge edge with Modi’s appeal and welfare schemes. The BSP, which secured 19.4 percent of votes in 2019, has appointed a new leader, Akash Anand, to regain the loyalty of the Dalits, especially the non-Jatavs, who have switched to the BJP due to Mayawati’s absence in Dalit politics. The BSP’s strategy is to field committed and seasoned candidates and strengthen its booth-level performance.