BSP will rather fight alone with respect than 'beg' for seats in alliance, says Mayawati

On Tuesday Mayawati asserted that if not given a respectable seat share, BSP will contest elections on its own rather than “beg” for seats in any alliance.

On Tuesday Mayawati asserted that if not given a respectable seat share, BSP will contest elections on its own rather than “beg” for seats in any alliance./ Image: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati (ANI)

New Delhi: In what may be termed as a jolt to the Congress party seeking a grand alliance of opposition parties, the BSP Supremo Mayawati adopted a rigid stance on seat sharing and said that BSP wants a respectable number of seats and needs no charity. On Tuesday Mayawati asserted that if not given a respectable seat share, BSP will contest elections on its own rather than “beg” for seats in any alliance, PTI reported. Her latest comments only add to the stance she showed when she called off talks with Congress to fight to fight the upcoming assembly polls in three states together as it did not agree to part with as many seats for the BSP as she demanded. A statement from Bahujan Samaj Party quoting Mayawati said that the party will never put at stake the self-respect of the scheduled castes, tribals, backwards, Muslims, other minorities and the upper castes' poor irrespective of the "malice and torture" of the governments run by these two parties and that any compromise n this regard will not be acceptable to the party. That is why the BSP has put forth the condition of being given a "respectable number" of seats to enter into an electoral alliance, Mayawati said, according to the statement. "What it clearly means that the BSP will not beg for seats in any alliance. If this (respectable number of seats) does not happen, then it will continue to fight polls on its own," she was quoted as saying by the news agency. Speaking at the death anniversary of BSP founder Kanshi Ram she said neither the Congress nor the BJP works in the interests of the upper castes' poor and the remaining majority. As per the new agency Mayawati described BJP as casteist, communal, arrogant, malicious and narrow-minded and said that her party will continue to strive to oust the Bharatiya Janata Party government. Amid protests by upper castes groups against the Narendra Modi government's decision to restore the original stringent provision of a law on atrocities against scheduled castes and tribals, she said her party never support misuse of any law. A likely alliance of BSP and Samajwadi Party bodes ill for the BJP in Uttar Pradesh, which elects 80 members of the Lok Sabha with the saffron party winning 71 of them in 2014. The SP-BSP alliance has resulted in humiliating defeats for the BJP in three Lok Sabha seat bypolls. Experts are of the view that if the BSP fights on its own, then the BJP may again do very well in the state in 2019. (With inputs from PTI)