Mayawati adopts ‘wait & watch’ policy as Akhilesh treads with caution after polls

PTI, May 20, 2019, 5:07 PM IST

Lucknow: Bahujan Samaj Party president Mayawati on Monday appeared to be opting for a wait-and watch-policy till the Lok Sabha election results are announced on May 23. “The future course of action will be decided only after the final results are announced. Till then, she (Mayawati) will be staying put in the state capital,” a party source said, requesting anonymity.

Insiders in both the parties, however, were not ready to accept the projections that gave the BJP over 300 seats to form the government with a comfortable margin. “We (SP-BSP-RLD) should get nothing less than 55 seats as the alliance has done exceedingly well. We expect around 60 (out of 80) seats. We do not agree with exit poll projections,” another source said. Meanwhile, with most of the BSP leaders preferring to remain in their respective districts after hectic electioneering, there was not much activity in the party camp here.

“The party leaders will come to the state capital only after May 23. They have been asked to stay in their respective districts and oversee the counting process,” a party leader said. Roads outside the BSP office and Mayawati’s residence reflected the caution with which the party is treading.

Aiming to check the return of NDA at the Centre, Mayawati had opted to sink decades-long differences to enter into an alliance with the SP for the Lok Sabha election. In the 2014 general election, the BJP had won 71 seats, ally Apna Dal bagged 2, Samajwadi Party 5 and the Congress 2, while the BSP drew a blank.

The BJP’s impressive show in Uttar Pradesh helped the BJP to pull off a record 282 seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha to oust the Congress, which was decimated to just 44 seats. With 80 Lok Sabha seats, Uttar Pradesh has the largest number of seats in the lower house of Parliament.