Mayawati says "no" to alliance with regional parties after BSP-INLD alliance faced defeat in Haryana polls

Oct 11, 2024

Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], October 11 : Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Friday announced that the party will not form alliance with 'regional parties' while maintaining the distance from BJP-led NDA and Congress-led INDIA alliances.
Mayawati took the decision after a review meeting called to evaluate the election results of Haryana legislative assembly and Punjab elections conducted before that.
Notably, this development came after the party lost the Haryana assembly elections despite of its alliance with a regional party Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), a party with significant jat-voter base.
Referring to the Haryana assembly results, Mayawati, in a veiled attack on the INLD's voter base, said that the BSP's votes have been transferred to the alliance party but the latter are unable to transfer their votes to BSP, hence, the party has decided to not to form any further alliance with any regional party.
She asserted that this move was taken to "save" the party cadre from disappointment and loss of movement.
Taking it to a social media post on X, Mayawati said, "In the elections of other states including UP, BSP's votes have been transferred to the alliance party, but due to lack of capability to transfer their votes to BSP, it is necessary to save the party cadre from disappointment and loss of movement due to not getting the expected election result."
https://x.com/Mayawati/status/1844640930214576292
"In this context, keeping in mind the election results of Haryana Legislative Assembly and the bitter experience of Punjab elections before that, it was decided in the review meeting of Haryana and Punjab today that there will be no further alliance with regional parties, while the distance from BJP/NDA and Congress/India alliance will continue as before," she added.
https://x.com/Mayawati/status/1844640932580266153
Earlier, BSP chief Mayawati on Wednesday criticised the 'casteist tendencies' of Haryana's Jat community, citing it as a major factor in the party's poor performance in the state assembly elections.
While addressing a press conference in the national capital, Mayawati stated that the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)-Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) alliance failed to secure votes from the Jat community, except in a few seats, due to their entrenched casteist mindset.
"Regarding the status of our party in yesterday's election results of Haryana and J&K, I would like to say is that Haryana is an agriculture-oriented state. People related to agriculture, especially the Jat community, have not been happy with the anti-farmer policies and works of the State and Centre. They are still not happy...That is why a majority of the votes of the Jat community went to the Congress party. So, BSP-INLD alliance did not get the votes of this community, except on a few seats. But due to their casteist mindset, Jat community did not vote for BSP candidates at all," the BSP chief said.
The BJP clinched an absolute majority in the Haryana legislative assembly elections while the Congress could not capitalise on the 10 years of anti-incumbency of the BJP government. The BJP won 48 out of 90 seats in the Haryana assembly, while Congress managed to win 37 seats. Independents won 3 seats, and Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) secured 2 seats.