Kolkata: When the results have been now declared and BJP has lost Gorakhpur and Phulpur by-poll, the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) to thank West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee, considering her as a part of their victory. As per the national vice president of SP, Kiranmoy Nanda, Banerjee had suggested SP chief Akhilesh Yadav to unite with Mayawati-led BSP.
“There is one person to whom we, all the SP members and Akhilesh ji, are indebted. It was Mamata ji’s suggestion to join hands with Mayawati ji,” Nanda told ET from Lucknow. “On December 2, 2017, Akhilesh ji and I met Mamata ji at her residence and she advised us to share seats with Mayawati ji. We were initially hesitant and could not commit anything. But we told her that we would discuss and decide. She explained to us why we should forge an electoral alliance with Mayawati ji. Finally, we took the plunge, and the result is here,” he said
Nanda said that Banerjee had played an important role in this alliance. Banerjee had congratulated the SP and BSP for their victory on Wednesday after the trend of results had been clear. “Great victory. Congratulations to Mayawati ji and Akhilesh Yadav ji for Uttar Pradesh bypolls. The beginning of the end has started,” Banerjee has posted.
Great victory. Congratulations to Mayawati Ji and @yadavakhilesh Ji for #UPByPolls The beginning of the end has started
— Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) March 14, 2018
According to Nanda, the SP had decided to remain in the alliance with Mayawati ji because ‘the public wants this’. A Trinamool Congress MP told The Economic Times on the condition of anonymity that “A pre-poll alliance was important in Uttar Pradesh to defeat the BJP in the next general election. Uttar Pradesh is the only state where the pre-poll alliance matters.”