Maya, Mulayam stay away from meeting
LUCKNOW: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati and Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav, as also party chief Akhilesh Yadav, on Monday skipped a meeting called to discuss formation of an anti-BJP grand alliance for the 2019 Lok Sabha election.
While the SP cited no reason for Akhilesh or Mulayam’s no-show, senior BSP leader Ambeth Rajan indicated that Mayawati skipping the meeting had much to do with her party’s stated policy of maintaining an equal distance from the Congress and the BJP. He said the NDA and the UPA were two sides of the same coin for his party.
“The BSP chief has made it clear that she will maintain equal distance from the Congress as well as the BJP since both the parties are hardly concerned about the welfare of the suppressed community. For the BSP, it was not an opposition parties’ meeting, but a gathering of a few enthusiastic leaders eager to form a joint front,” he said. Mayawati stayed away from the meeting in spite of efforts by TDP chief and Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu and senior Congress leaders to bring the BSP on board. The opposition leaders urged the BSP chief to send party national general secretary SC Mishra to the meeting but Mayawati refused to budge, a person familiar with the matter said.
The fact that she had made up her mind not to attend the meeting could be gauged from Mishra cancelling his plan to visit Delhi, he said. A senior BSP leader, who did not wish to be named, said rather than joining the grand alliance, Behenji (Mayawati) was working to form a third front of regional parties. Talks with the Samajwadi Party, the Janata Congress Chhattisgarh and the Indian National Lok Dal were in
an advanced stage, the insider said. Some of the parties that attended the opposition meeting were also in touch with the BSP, he said. “These parties have assured to project Behenji (Mayawati) as the prime ministerial candidate in the 2019 Lok Sabha election. After the announcement of the assembly election results of five states on Tuesday, a meeting of the regional parties leaders will be held to give final shape to the third front before the Lok Sabha election,” he said.
“In UP, the BSP-SP pre-poll alliance will get rolling in midDecember. Seat-sharing talks between the SP- BSP leaders was
continuing,” he said.
As for the SP’s absence, party spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary said, “Decisions like this are always taken by the national president. He has not specified any reasons for us. So we cannot say.” The party stayed away though both Akhilesh and Mulayam met Andra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu in the national capital on November 1. Mulayam had said in Lucknow on Sunday that it was important to attend the meeting, but he skipped it. At the November 1 meeting, both Naidu and Mulayam had expressed hope of a tie-up.