Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president Mayawati said that she would “rather retire from politics” than enter into an alliance with the BJP on Monday.
“The alliance of the BJP with the BSP is not possible in any polls in future. The BSP cannot contest with a communal party,” she said today in a media briefing. “Our ideology is of ‘sarvajan sarva dharma hitay’ (benefit of everyone and all religions) and is opposite to the BJP’s ideology…The BSP cannot enter into an alliance with those having a communal, casteist, and capitalist ideology,” she told media.
However, last week she said that to ensure the defeat of Samajwadi Party (SP) candidates in future elections, including those of the state legislative council and the Rajya Sabha, her party would even vote for the BJP or any other party’s candidate. “Our party will support the candidate of any party, including the BJP, which is strong, to defeat the second candidate of the SP,” she said. “I stand by my earlier statement, which has been twisted by the SP and the Congress for political gains so that the Muslim community distances itself from the party.”
In recent times, media reports have often suggested the BSP’s softening of stance against the BJP. Mayawati’s rivals have suspected her of trying to split the anti-BJP votes not only in Uttar Pradesh but also in Madhya Pradesh and Bihar.