Mulayam's U-turn, says no truck with BSP

SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on Wednesday night ruled out any truck with BSP, making a volte face hours after its leader Mayawati rejected a proposal by RJD supremo Lalu Prasad for a grand alliance of the rival parties in UP on the lines of Bihar experiment.

SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on Wednesday night ruled out any truck with BSP, making a volte face hours after its leader Mayawati rejected a proposal by RJD supremo Lalu Prasad for a grand alliance of the rival parties in Uttar Pradesh on the lines of the latest Bihar experiment.

"I am ready to join hands but with whom. The Samajwadi Party will fight the BJP alone," he told reporters when asked if his party would form an alliance with the BSP following the Bihar experiment where Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad Yadav have formed a "grand alliance" to take on BJP.

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Earlier in the day, Yadav had said that he does not mind joining hands with BSP in UP to fight BJP in the next Assembly elections due in early 2017.

"If Laluji takes initiative in this regard, I don't have any issues in joining hands," he had told reporters when asked about Lalu Prasad's suggestion.

Mayawati while rejecting RJD chief's suggestion that arch rivals BSP and SP should form a grand alliance in UP claimed that both SP and BJP have joined hands covertly. She said the BSP will contest the elections on its own.

"Whenever SP government comes to power, incidents of crime, communal violence, rape and dacoity, reach their peak. It is the character of this party and if incidents of this nature do not take place then this party will be finished," Mayawati told reporters.

"Therefore, keeping all these things in mind, there is no question of joining hands with SP and fighting elections together," she said.

The RJD chief had recently suggested that the SP and BSP should come together to form a grand alliance to defeat the BJP in UP.

"Today people in UP are remembering the rule of BSP government and they want that Mayawati government should come back to power to restore the peace and harmony in the state. "BSP will contest the elections on its own and I am confident that people of the state will help me come back to power in UP without taking any support. When we will come back to power, we will rein in the unlawful elements with a strong hand and put a full stop to the rape incidents," Mayawati said.

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Recently, after a gap of 23 years, arch-rivals Lalu Prasad and former Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar of JD(U) formed a political alliance in Bihar against the BJP.

BSP and SP had contested polls together in 1993 Assembly elections in 1993 but soon parted ways.

After the alliance broke, Mulayam had termed it as a big political mistake for the SP to have joined hands with BSP.