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After Samajwadi Party, BSP snaps ties with Lok Sabha alliance partner in Haryana
In the past 13 months, the BSP had formed an alliance with two regional parties of Haryana— first with OP Chautala’s Indian National Lok Dal, which continued for nine months, and then with Saini’s LSP, which ended on Tuesday after a period of nearly four months.
The Bahujan Samaj Party on Tuesday called off its four-month-old alliance with Raj Kumar Saini-led Loktantra Suraksha Party (LSP), days after suffering a major drubbing in the Lok Sabha elections in Haryana.
Announcing the snapping of ties, BSP’s Haryana in-charge Meghraj said the decision was taken after a party workers’ meeting in Ballabhgarh town of Faridabad.
“We interacted with party workers of eight parliamentary constituencies of Haryana to review the reasons behind the poll debacle. The workers told us that the biggest mistake was forging an alliance with Raj Kumar Saini’s LSP, which does not have any political base in Haryana. After hearing the internal voice of our cadre, we discussed the Haryana poll scenario with party chief Mayawati and she directed us to pull the plug on the alliance with Saini’s party. Now we have decided to go solo in the assembly elections,” BSP Haryana-in charge added.
In the past 13 months, the BSP had formed an alliance with two regional parties of Haryana— first with OP Chautala’s Indian National Lok Dal, which continued for nine months, and then with Saini’s LSP, which ended on Tuesday after a period of nearly four months.
In February, the BSP had parted ways with the INLD, citing poor performance in the Jind bypoll, where the alliance nominee Umed Singh Redhu failed to even save his security deposit.
In the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls, the BSP had contested on eight seats while Raj Kumar Saini’s LSP fought on Sonepat and Bhiwani-Mahendergarh seats. All the candidates of the alliance forfeited their security deposits.
In the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, the BSP polled 3.64% of the total voteshare while the LSP’ s voteshare was less than half percent.
Talking to Hindustan Times over the phone, BSP’s Haryana unit chief Prakash Bharti said the alliance was forged to give an alternate front to Haryana but it failed due to Raj Kumar Saini’s negative image among the voters.
“Throughout the election campaigning, the LSP chief had targeted a particular community and that played a vital role in helping the saffron party. Saini has been playing into the hands of communal powers and we had failed to identify his ideology and mindset. Our workers asked us to snap ties with the LSP, which does not have any political status in Haryana. During election campaigning, Saini left the BSP workers alone and roamed freely without helping the alliance candidates,” Bharti added.
When contacted, Raj Kumar Saini said he accepts the BSP’s decision but will continue to fight for the rights of the backward classes.
