BSP to go alone in HP polls, to contest all 68 seats

Chandigarh, Oct 31 (UNI) The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) will go alone in the Himachal Pradesh assembly elections and contest all the 68 assembly seats in the state.

''BSP will contest all the 68 seats on its own and will not enter into any alliance with other parties before or after the elections,'' state BSP convenor and party's Chief Ministerial candidate Vijai Singh Mankotia said at a 'Meet the Press' progremme here.

He claimed that the BSP, by replicating the UP experiment of social engineering would secure majority in the elections and form the next government in the state. ''If the BSP can do it in the Uttar Pradesh why can't it make it in Himachal.'' He said 70 per cent population of the Himachal Pradesh was constituted by economically backward sections of the society, including dalits, who had been perpetually neglected by the Congress and the BJP, the two parties who had been ruling the state in turns.

These sections, he said, were looking forward for a third option in the state which would be provided by the BSP.

The party would encourage the youth in a big way and would gove at least 50 per cent tickets to new faces, he added.

The BSP would raise the issues of corruption, unemployment rising prices and regional disparity in the elections, he said.

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