200% final: BSP says no alliance with BJP in 2022 UP elections

Lucknow, Sep 13: Senior BSP leader Satish Chandra Misra on Monday ruled out any chances of a post-poll alliance with the BJP in Uttar Pradesh, asserting that his party will form a government with a clear-cut majority.

The Bahujan Samaj Party will also not tie up with any other party, the close confidant of party chief Mayawati told news agency PTI in an interview.

"We will neither form an alliance with any other party nor take support. We would prefer to sit in the Opposition," the BSP general secretary said.

"The BSP is forming the government in 2022 with a full majority. In case of any other scenario arising after the elections, we will never go with the BJP and this is 200% final," he said.

Satish Misra's assertion came amid a growing perception that the BSP might again join hands with the BJP if the 2022 assembly elections throw a hung House.

The BSP has in the past formed governments in the country's most populous state both with the BJP and the Samajwadi Party (SP).

In 1993, it tied up with the SP with Mulayam Singh Yadav heading the government. In 1995, it pulled out and Mayawati became the chief minister with the BJP's support for a few months.

In 1997 and in 2002, the BSP again formed the government in a coalition with the BJP.

In 2007, relying on the Dalit-Brahmin combination, the party formed the government on its own, winning 206 seats in the 403-member Assembly.

The BSP is once again trying to revive this winning "Dalit-Brahmin" combination, holding a series of "Brahmin sammelans (gatherings)" across the state.

Dalits constitute an estimated 20% of the population of Uttar Pradesh and the Brahmins are said to form 13%.

"The BSP started the trend and all the parties are now aiming to rope in Brahmins and going all out to woo them," Misra, the BSP's Brahmin face, said, referring to similar "sammelans" being held by the BJP and the SP.

"But 80% of the Brahmins are with us. Only those Brahmins who are office-bearers of any party or are themselves contesting the elections are not with the BSP, and all these parties are fighting for them through the outreach programmes," he said.

Not just the Brahmins but members of all other castes and religious groups who have had a first-hand experience of the Mayawati government are supporting the party this time, he claimed, adding, the party is all set to surpass its showing in the 2007 elections.

In an apparent reference to All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) leader Asaduddin Owaisi, Mr Misra claimed there is a trend of leaders coming from other states before the elections to target the Muslim voters in the state.

He said these leaders will not succeed in their attempt to "mislead" the community.

"The Muslims have already seen Mayawati's government and know how safe they were then," the BSP leader said.

On outfits that enjoy influence in specific regions of the state, he said, "These small parties are sponsored by the BJP and they come out all of a sudden at the time of the elections to cut into the votes of their caste. But this will not have any effect."

Asked about some BSP leaders who were shown the door recently, Mishra said, "There is no place here for those who cheated and conspired against the party."

"There is no chance of a return for the leaders who were given respectable positions by Behan ji (Mayawati) and they, in turn, started cheating. Leaders from other parties are welcome if they want to join the Bahujan Samaj Party," he added.

In July, the BSP had expelled its leader in the Assembly Lalji Verma and senior leader Ram Achal Rajbhar.