Lok Sabha election 2024: ’BSP to contest alone’, Mayawati confirms

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Wednesday confirmed that her party will contest the Lok Sabha election 2024, as well as, state legislative assembly polls alone.

A day after the Congress and BJP's alliance formation, Mayawati confirmed that her party would neither go with the 26-member INDIA alliance nor the 39-member NDA alliance.

She said that she would maintain equal distance from both the formations and contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls on her own.

Addressing a press conference, the 67-year-old leader said the party's preparations are going in full swing ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

"We will fight the elections alone. We will contest the election on our own in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, and in Haryana, Punjab, and other states we can contest elections with the regional parties of the state," the BSP supremo said.

Taking a dig at Congress, she said, "Congress party is forging an alliance with like-minded casteist and capitalist parties to come into power", and add that the BJP is also strengthening NDA but"their policies are anti-Muslim and anti-Dalit", Mayawati added.

Mayawati explained why she decided to contest the election alone. The BSP supremo said, "These parties don’t work for the welfare of the people. They have not done anything for Dalits, Muslims, and minorities. All are the same. When they come to power, they forget their promises. They have not fulfilled a single promise made to be the people. Be it Congress or be it BJP. This is the biggest reason why BSP has not joined hands with the opposition".

Earlier this month, Mayawati held a key meeting with the party's Punjab, Haryana, and Chandigarh units to discuss the BSP's preparations and strategies for the 2024 general elections.

In May, she convened a meeting with BSP's UP office bearers after suffering a defeat in Uttar Pradesh local body polls.

The BSP contested the 2019 Lok Sabha election in alliance with SP in Uttar Pradesh. It polled 19.43% votes and bagged 10 seats while SP won 5 seats. In the 2022 U.P. assembly election, the BSP polled 12.88% of votes and bagged merely one seat. The party is working on a Dalit-OBC-Muslim alliance to regain its lost ground in the 2024 Lok Sabha election.