Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday said he will consult party leaders on their future strategy, a day after Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati called off their alliance in Uttar Pradesh. Mayawati pulled out of the alliance over a week after the Bharatiya Janata Party won 62 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state, dashing hopes of a Mahagathbandhan victory.
“I have been a science student,” Yadav told reporters on Wednesday. “There are trials and sometimes trials fail. But at least you realise what the shortcomings are. But today also I will say what I said when we announced the gathbandhan – respect to Mayawatiji and respect to me.”
“And as far as the gathbandhan is concerned, if we have to fight alone in the Uttar Pradesh byepolls, I will consult my party leaders on our future strategy,” he added.
On Monday, Mayawati had held a meeting with her party’s Uttar Pradesh unit in New Delhi, where she reportedly told her party leaders that they should not depend on the alliance to get votes. She asked party workers to work on expanding the organisation.
Mayawati reportedly said that Akhilesh Yadav “couldn’t even ensure his wife Dimple Yadav’s win”, according to NDTV. “Our votes transferred to Dimple but the Yadav votes didn’t,” Mayawati reportedly said. “Yadav votes were not transferred to us but our votes did go to them. Samajwadi Party won only where Muslims voted heavily for them.”
On Tuesday, Mayawati said her party will fight upcoming Assembly bye-elections in Uttar Pradesh alone. While she offered “respect” to Akhilesh and Dimple Yadav, Mayawati said the Bahujan Samaj Party cannot ignore “political compulsions”. The third party in the alliance, the Rashtriya Lok Dal, has also said it will contest the polls separately.
On Tuesday, Akhilesh Yadav said his party will fight for social justice along with the Bahujan Samaj Party. “We and Bahujan Samaj Party will fight for social justice together,” said Yadav while addressing a public meeting in his constituency Azamgarh. “It [elections] was a race between Ferrari and a cycle [Samajwadi Party’s election symbol],” Yadav said with reference to the Bharatiya Janata Party.
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