It's Over, Says Mayawati, Questions Attitude Of 'Ex' Samajwadi Party

Mayawati today formally called an end to the alliance with Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party, tweeting that going forward, her party will contest all elections, big and small, on its own. In a series of tweets, the Bahujan Samaj Party also aired her grouse against Akhilesh Yadav, with whom she promised to keep cordial relations barely three weeks ago. A string of assembly seats will be up for by-election later this year.

"It is known that all our old grievances with the SP were kept aside, along with the anti-Dalit and ant-BSP decisions taken by the SP government between 2012-17, works carried out that were against reservation in promotion and deteriorating law and order situation - were all kept aside and an alliance was formed in public interest which was honoured completely," one of her tweets read.

In another, she said: "But after the Lok Sabha general election, the attitude of the SP compels BSP to think whether it will be possible to defeat the BJP in the future. Hence, for the sake of the party and the movement, the BSP will now fight all elections - big or small - by itself."

Accusing the BSP chief of "weakening the fight for social justice", Samajwadi Party leader Ramashankar Vidyarthi said, "She is speaking against the Samajwadi Party in haste and due to the Dalit support to the SP and its leader Akhilesh Yadav."

"People know the reality about what the ''malkin'' of the alliance has done," he said.

Yesterday, after a meeting with senior party leaders, Mayawati had accused Akhilesh Yadav of not calling her after the results, and working "against non-Yadav backward communities" and even neglecting the Muslims while he was the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister.

The Mayawati-Akhilesh Yadav alliance failed to replicate the success during last year's bypolls at Gorakhpur and Phulpur

Party sources indicated that her remarks were meant to placate her traditional Scheduled Caste voter base in view of the coming by-polls on 11 assembly seats.

A section of her party leaders have attributed the loss in the national election to Dalit anger at the alliance with Akhilesh Yadav. The Other Backward Classes Yadavs, who support the Samajwadi Party, are traditional rivals of the Dalits.

The Mayawati-Akhilesh Yadav alliance failed to replicate the success during last year's bypolls at Gorakhpur and Phulpur, which had provided what the opposition considered a formula to beat the BJP.

This time, it managed to bag only 15 of UP's 80 seats, far less than the BJP's rich haul of 62. Mayawati has blamed it on the Samajwadi Party's failure to transfer its vote base to her BSP. Her party, however, made more gains - from a score of zero in 2014, the BSP manage to get 10 seats.