After decades-long rivalry, Mulayam, Mayawati to share stage at Mainpuri rally

At loggerheads for decades, SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav and BSP chief Mayawati are scheduled to share the dais at a joint rally of the SP-BSP-RLD alliance in Mainpuri on Friday.

SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav and BSP chief Mayawati are scheduled to share the dais at a joint rally of the SP-BSP-RLD alliance in the Samajwadi Party citadel of Mainpuri on Friday.

NEW DELHI: Former Uttar Pradesh chief ministers Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mayawati have been bitter rivals since 1995 when SP cadres allegedly attacked the state guest house where the BSP chief had been camping with her supporters. Mayawati's room was vandalised, she was abused and allegedly beaten up. When the BSP MLAs failed to protect her, BJP MLA Brahm Dutt Dwivedi took her out of the guest house to safety. The incident had left an indelible mark in the relationship between the two leaders and their parties. However, nearly 24 years later, Yadav and Mayawati are scheduled to share the dais at a joint rally of the SP-BSP-RLD alliance in the SP citadel of Mainpuri on Friday. Preparations are underway for the rally at Christian Field to send out a message to our political opponents that the alliance against the BJP in Uttar Pradesh shares a strong bond, PTI quoted an SP leader as saying. The SP patriarch, who is contesting the Lok Sabha elections from the party bastion of Mainpuri was conspicuous by his absence at the three joint rallies held earlier in Deoband, Badaun and Agra due to his aversion to his party's alliance with the BSP. Reports suggest that Mulayam Singh Yadav was not too keen on attending Friday's rally as well but was cajoled by his son and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav who has confirmed the SP founder's presence at the Mainpuri rally. SP's Sadar MLA, Raj Kumar alias Raju Yadav, who is looking after the preparations, said Mulayam Singh Yadav will reach the venue by noon. Mayawati has already asked workers of both the BSP and the SP to shun their differences and work for the victory of the alliance in the state. SP district unit president of Mainpuri, Khuman Singh Verma said that Akhilesh Yadav along with Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati and Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh will address the rally in the presence of Mulayam Singh Yadav. A grand tent is being set up while food packets for about 35,000 people will be prepared, he added. The SP-BSP alliance Once-arch rivals the SP and the BSP have joined hands along with the RLD in Uttar Pradesh for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. The SP is contesting 37 seats, the BSP 38 and the RLD three. The parties seem to have forgotten their two decade-old antagonism for a "political revolution" which they hope would "last long". The BSP-SP came close during the parliamentary by-polls in Gorakhpur and Phulpur recently wherein the BSP supported SP candidates who succeeded in winning both the seats - Gorakhpur vacated by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Phulpur by his deputy Keshav Prasad Maurya. In the ongoing Lok Sabha polls, if both the parties continue to have a say in their traditional vote bank, the combine can create hurdles for the BJP. In the politically-crucial Uttar Pradesh, there are about 22 per cent Dalits, 45 per cent OBCs and 19 per cent Muslims, whose vote share will be decisive in the general elections. (With inputs from PTI)