Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati and Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav Saturday announced their alliance in Uttar Pradesh for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls during a joint press meet in Lucknow on January 12, sharing 38 seats each out of the state’s 80 parliamentary constituencies.
The parties kept the Congress out of the alliance but said they will not field candidates in Amethi and Rae Bareli, represented by Congress president Rahul Gandhi and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi.
The alliance left two more seats for smaller allies.
Burying the hatchet to battle the Bharatiya Janata Party in Uttar Pradesh, Mayawati took a pot shot at the ruling party and said, “This joint press conference will rob ‘guru-chela’, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah, of their sleep.”