Alliance with BSP was blunder: Mulayam

Lucknow, Mar 11 (UNI) Describing BSP as a ''pariah'' in the contemporary politics, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav today admitted that his Samajwadi Party's alliance with it in 1993 was a big ''political mistake.'' ''SP's alliance was the flashpoint in the emergence of BSP in the Indian politics, which in hindsight looks like a blunder,'' he said in the state assembly during discussion on the budget.

It was a wrong decision on the part of SP to ally with BSP to form government in UP in 1993, he said.

Not only the SP, but the Congress and BJP also sufferered a lot by forging alliance with BSP during different times in the last decade, Mr Yadav claimed.

''Congress was wiped out after having gone for a pre-poll alliance with the BSP in 1995, while BJP also headed for the same fate because it had also formed coalition with the BSP on more than one occasions,'' he claimed.

His remark about BSP president Mayawati invited the ire of party members when he claimed the party's mentor, Kanshiram, had been held captive by her. BSP members got agitated on the reamrk and staged a walk out in protest.

However, Mr Yadav continued, calling Kanshiram ''a good person and nice to interact with'', but held his ''unfortunate reliance'' on Mayawati had damaged his persona.'' ''...So much so that the mother of Kanshiram had to move court to meet her son, which is unfortunate.'' ''It is pathetic that the present BSP chief is projecting Mr Kanshiram as 'very ill' while he is all right. It is a deliberate attempt to keep him out of active politics,'' Mr Yadav claimed.

''In fact, the BSP had a stellar role in the deterioration and degradation in politics witnessed in recent times,'' he asserted.

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