Mayawati, Akhilesh to hold joint presser

Lucknow, Jan 11 (IANS) Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati and Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav will hold a joint press conference here on Saturday when the alliance between them for the coming Lok Sabha polls is likely to be announced.

An invitation, jointly signed by SP General Secretary Rajendra Chowdhary and BSP General Secretary Satish Chandra Mishra, has been circulated to the media for the press conference at a five-star hotel here.

Informed sources said that the two former Chief Ministers might formally announce the formation of the alliance for the Lok Sabha polls and also share the seat-sharing formula.

A tactical alliance between SP and BSP - once sworn enemies - helped them defeat the BJP in Lok Sabha by-elections in Gorakhpur and Phulpur last year. The two parties also backed the candidate of RLD-led by Ajit Singh to win the Kairana Lok Sabha constituency.

Four-time Chief Minister Mayawati flew into Lucknow late on Thursday and is likely to deliberate with her party leaders on Friday before sealing the deal with SP.

A senior party leader said that while the SP and BSP will share 37 seats each, they will leave two for Ajit Singh's Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD).

The alliance might also leave two seats, Amethi and Rae Bareli, for the Congress to enable Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi to contest from there.

These were the only two seats the Congress won in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls in which the BSP drew a blank and SP managed to win five seats, again won by members of the Samajwadi Party's 'first family'.

The BJP swept 71 seats while its ally Apna Dal got two seats in a four-way contest.

If the BSP, SP and RLD join hands, it may emerge as a formidable alliance against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.