Maywati to meet BSP leaders to discuss alliance with Akhilesh for 2019 pollsMayawati to meet BSP leaders to discuss coalition formula with SP for 2019 electionsMayawati to meet BSP leaders to discuss coalition formula with SP for 2019 elections

To upset the equation for Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the SP-BSP alliance is all set to take shape with BSP chief Mayawati calling a meeting of her party leaders on Monday to discuss the 'coalition formula' against the BJP in Uttar Pradesh.

Mayawati has recently announced that the Rajya Sabha election defeat will have no impact on the understanding between the BSP and SP.

NEW DELHI: To upset the equation for Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the SP-BSP alliance is all set to take shape with BSP chief Mayawati calling a meeting of her party leaders on Monday to discuss the 'coalition formula' against the BJP in Uttar Pradesh. Riding high on bypoll victories of SP-BSP alliance UP, Mayawati had said Rajya Sabha election defeat will have no impact on her party's association with the SP the two will work with even more force to defeat the BJP in the 2019 general elections. According to sources, Maywati will have a discussion within her party on a seat-sharing arrangement with SP for the 2019 polls. The BSP, which failed to get even a single seat in 2014, has never entered into any pre-poll alliance for Lok Sabha elections. Though it recorded the third-largest share of votes across the country, but didn't win a single seat in the last Lok Sabha elections. The BSP's vote share stood at 4.2 per cent, after the BJP's 31.3 per cent and the Congress's 19.5 per cent. In Uttar Pradesh, it secured 19.82 per cent of the votes, against 27.42 per cent in the 2009 elections. Whereas the SP in Uttar Pradesh had marginally lost its vote share from 23.26% in 2009 when it had won 23 seats to 22.1 per cent in 2014 election. However, the party could only manage to win 5 seats. Had Akhilesh and Mayawati joined hands before 2014 elections, their alliance would have won 41 seats reducing the BJP to only 37. Mayawati has recently announced that the Rajya Sabha election defeat will have no impact on the understanding between the BSP and SP. Accusing the BJP of indulging in malpractice in the election, she said that the ruling party had "conspired" to defeat her candidate to create a rift between the BSP and SP. "I will not let that happen at any cost. They were up all night eating laddoos and thinking that Mayawati will get angry and break off and that they will have a field day in 2019...," Mayawati has said. Maintaining the same tone, Akhilesh had said that BJP's win in UP Rajya Sabha polls has only bolstered SP-BSP unity. "The victory of the BJP on the ninth seat, contested by the saffron party with the help of money power, has given the SP an opportunity to expose the communal outfit's anti-Dalit face. Because of the conspiracy hatched by the BJP against a Dalit getting elected, SP-BSP unity has got strengthened all the more for the (2019) Lok Sabha polls," Akhilesh Yadav has said.