Mayawati announces break from SP alliance, will fight alone in UP bypolls

Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati on Tuesday said her party will contest the bypolls to 11 seats in Uttar Pradesh alone but that doesn't mean “permanent break” on its relationship with Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party. The SP-BSP alliance fared poorly in the Lok Sabha elections winning just 15 of the 80 seats in UP. Addressing a meeting of party leaders from Uttar Pradesh in Delhi, Mayawati directed them to start preparation for bypolls on the 11 assembly seats that had fallen vacant after the election of the sitting MLAs to Lok Sabha.