No alliances, will go all alone from next year: BSP supremo Mayawati

On the occasion of her 67th birthday, the President of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) Mayawati on Sunday held a press conference to thank those who wished her on birthday and released the 18th edition of her work - "A Travelogue of My Struggle-ridden Life and BSP Movement." The former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh also announced that from next year onwards the party will contest assembly and general elections itself and will not get into alliances.

"BSP won't align with any parties in the upcoming elections, we will fight polls on our own. Congress and few other parties are trying to ally with us but our ideology is different from other parties," Mayawati said.

The leader targeted the other parties in the state and accused them of conspiring against the BSP to stop the party from moving forward.

"BSP has formed the government four times in the state, and the party has worked for the public through welfare schemes for poor and needy people. All opposition parties have maintained internal connivance and have come against BSP. Today, the people of all the classes are upset," said the leader.

Mayawati added that the BSP doesn't misuse money to win elections and people from all section of society are joining the party due to the efforts made by her leadership.

"BSP is a movement working for the poor, backward people and does not make use of the money power of Dhanna Seths," she added.

The leader also raised objections on elections with the help of the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) and asserted that all elections in the future should be conducted through ballot paper only.

"Something is wrong with EVM, some are sabotaging it, during ballot paper time, our number of seats and percentage of votes used to increase in all polls. Polls must be conducted with ballot paper again," added Mayawati.

The announcement to go alone in the upcoming elections is seen as clarification before the Lok Sabha elections of 2024. In 2019, BSP and SP fought the elections together unsuccessfully and the alliance won a mere 15 out of 80 parliamentary seats.

(With inputs from ANI)