SP-BSP pact? Akhilesh says will be at Lalu’s rally with Maya

AGRA: Former UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav has said that he would attend Lalu Prasad’s proposed rally on August 27 in Patna and that BSP chief Mayawati would also be present there.
Akhilesh was in Karhal, Mainpuri, on Wednesday to attend the condolence meeting of a Samajwadi Party leader’s wife’s death. He said that RJD chief Lalu has invited several top opposition leaders to his party’s mega rally in Patna.“I have got the invitation and Mayawati will also attend the rally,” he said.
Asked about the possibility of SP and BSP coming together again, Akhilesh said, “If there is any announcement (regarding the future alliance), it will be made there.”
Soon after the UP elections and just before its results were out, Yadav had said he was not averse to a tie-up with Mayawati to form the next government in the state. He had then also said he “always gave respect” to BSP leaders and that no one would like UP to be run by remote control by BJP in case of a hung assembly”.
SP and BSP had come together once in 1993 to form the government in UP, but the coalition came to a bitter end after Mayawati withdrew support to the government.
Akhilesh’s overtures to Mayawati, though not immediately returned, later had the BSP chief saying she was ready to join hands with “any political party” to defeat BJP.
In case an alliance does come to fruition, it will assume significance as the UP civic bodies elections are scheduled for June and would be followed by the Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha bypolls.
SP and Congress are already partners in UP, with Akhilesh once again reiterating on Wednesday that that union was “rock solid”. On the question of Congress, Akhilesh said his party’s alliance was unbreakable and that they, along with other like-minded parties, would work closely to expose the BJP. “Rahul Gandhi is with me and will always be with me,” he said.
Spokesperson of BSP, Kunwar Fateh Bahadur Singh, said he cannot comment as yet on the participation of Mayawati in the RJD rally.