Putting an end to speculation about a ‘maha-gathbandhan’ in the Uttar Pradesh assembly election, Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav on Thursday ruled out forming alliance with any party and said “there may be only merger”.
The announcement comes in the backdrop of high octane talks of SP trying to sew up a pre-poll alliance in poll bound UP with other like-minded parties and even Congress. Replying to a question in a conference call, Mulayam, however, said SP would allow merger of other parties with itself.
He even said some parties would indeed merge with SP before polls, although he did not suggest any names.
There were also reports of Congress strategist for Uttar Pradesh, Prashant Kishor, meeting Mulayam and other Samajwadi Party leaders in an effort to form an alliance.
The Grand Alliance of the RJD, the JD-U and the Congress had defeated the BJP in Bihar last year. The election to the 403-member Assembly in Uttar Pradesh is due early next year.
Mulayam’s announcement is significant in the context of the erstwhile Janata Party constituents holding meetings in Lucknow and New Delhi over the prospects of an alliance to keep the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at bay.
His younger brother and sacked UP cabinet minister Shivpal Singh Yadav has been vocally airing opinion in support of an alliance with Janata Dal (United), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) etc.
Sources close to Mr. Kishor, who has earlier designed winning election campaigns for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, have said the discussion with Mulayam Singh merely touched upon the possible merits of a “Grand Alliance.”
Mulayam Singh Yadav had walked out of such an alliance in Bihar last year. The rest of the constituents, including the Congress and Lalu Yadav’s RJD, were led by Nitish Kumar to a big win over the BJP. Mulayam Singh fought solo and won no seat.
Earlier this month, Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad, Janata Dal (United)’s Sharad Yadav and leaders from other parties had attended the silver jubilee of Samajwadi Party’s foundation day in Lucknow, triggering speculation that the parties might come together to form a secular alliance against the BJP.
