BSP chief Mayawati ruled out any alliance with Mulayam Singh Yadav
Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav has said he is ready to join hands with arch rival Mayawati, "if Lalu Yadav mediates". His sarcasm was perhaps lost on Mayawati, who declared today, "I will never join hands with Mulayam."
Seeking to end swirling speculation, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader said, "Mulayam Singh is hand-in-glove with communal forces. There is no question of an alliance with him."
The unlikely partnership was proposed by Bihar politician Lalu Prasad Yadav, who shared the stage with old rival Nitish Kumar at a rally this week. "Our alliance has sent a good message to everyone," Lalu said, referring to Nitish Kumar as his younger brother."I appeal to Mulayam Singh and Mayawati to enter a maha-alliance too," he said.
In response, Mulayam Singh quipped, "Lalu unka (Mayawati) haath pakad le aayen toh hum haat mila lenge (If Lalu brings Mayawati, I will join hands with her)."
Mayawati had stronger words for Lalu as she lashed out, "The way Mulayam got his men to attack me, if it happened to women close to Lalu, would he have joined hands with him?"
Enemies turned friends for benefits became the flavor after Nitish Kumar and Lalu Yadav, both former Chief Ministers of Bihar, vowed to campaign together for upcoming by-polls, to arrest the march of the BJP, which swept the state in the national election. The two leaders are also testing waters for state elections next year.
Mulayam Singh and Mayawati, who have been at daggers drawn for nearly two decades, suffered similar humiliation in the national election, with the BJP bagging 71 of UP's 80 seats. Mulayam's party won just five seats and Mayawati none at all.
The Samajwadi Party and BSP contested polls together in the 1993 UP assembly elections but fell out soon after, with Mulayam Singh describing it as a "big political mistake."