‘BSP seeks 40 out of 80 seats in UP’

Lucknow: BSP chief Mayawati remained mum on the victory of “grand alliance” in Kairana and Noorpur byelections, leading political circles to speculate that the conspicuous silence could be an essay in political eloquence targeted at prospective partners. Mayawati’s refraining from commenting on Samajwadi Party on the setback for BJP stood out both because of enthusiastic celebrations by her partners for the two by polls as also because BSP’s Dalit supporters were crucial for the opposition’s twin successes. BSP sources said the silence was strategic and meant to signal to the prospective partners that they should leave at least 40 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in UP for the party. While they spoke on condition of anonymity, the comment tallies with the gameplan Mayawati recently unveiled before party workers. While addressing party workers in Lucknow last week, Mayawati had said that if BSP was not given “sammanjanak” (respectable seats), she could even contest the elections alone. However, despite having pulled off wins with BSP’s help in three byelections— Gorakhpur and Phulpur LS seats and Noorpur assembly seat— SP does not seem to be eager to commit itself to specific numbers. Asked to respond to Mayawati’s “respectable” formula, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav merely said his party is known for respecting people. “Aap jaante hain respect dene mein hum log aage hain ... aur respect kaun nahin dega yeh bhi aap jaante hain (You all know we always give respect ... and you also know who does not give respect),” he said. As per a formula proposed earlier, SP and BSP had considered fielding their candidates in seats where they finished second in the 2014 Lok Sabha election, with 10 seats here or there. For BSP, this added up to 34 seats out of 80 while SP’s share worked out to 31. Source: The Times of India