Taking a cue from the massive victory of the Grand Alliance against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav said on Sunday such a tie-up was possible in the State where Assembly elections are due in early 2017.
“A Grand Alliance is possible in the State,” Mr. Yadav told reporters when asked about possibility of such a coalition materialising in U.P. to take on the BJP in the 2017 assembly polls. The Chief Minister, however, did not elaborate.
Minister’s suggestion
The Chief Minister’s remarks came a day after an Uttar Pradesh Minister suggested a ‘Grand Alliance’ involving ruling Samajwadi Party and Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) for the upcoming assembly polls in the State similar to the one in Bihar where rivals Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad and Janata Dal (United) leader Nitish Kumar came together and decimated the BJP. In Barananki, U.P. Minister Fareed Mahfooz Kidwai had suggested that his party and the BSP form a ‘grand alliance’ for the 2017 Assembly polls to defeat the BJP.
‘We will defeat BJP’
“God-willing, a grand alliance will come into being here also [like in Bihar] and we will definitely defeat the BJP and form our government,” he had said.
To a question if the SP and the BSP, which are arch rivals in U.P. politics, can come together on the lines of Bihar, Mr. Kidwai had said, “It is my wish.”
Like Bihar, the BJP had swept Uttar Pradesh also in the Lok Sabha election last year and the party is hoping that it will return to power in the politically crucial State after nearly 15 years.
‘Bihar voted for development’
The Chief Minster, who was here on a private visit, said the people in Bihar had given their decision in favour of development. In the U.P. panchayat polls, they have favoured the Samajwadi Party’s development plank, Mr. Yadav said.
“We will contest the 2017 assembly polls on the plank of development as we have ensured progress in every nook and corner of the State,” he said.
The Grand Alliance in Bihar comprising the RJD, the JD(U) and the Congress secured over two-thirds majority in the 243-member Bihar House, winning 178 seats in the just-concluded assembly polls in the State. The RJD got 80 seats, JD (U) 71 and Congress 27.
The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance managed just 58 seats. The BJP itself won 53 while its three allies — Lok Janshakti Party, Rashtriya Lok Samata Party and Hindustani Awam Morcha — together secured only 5. The assembly poll victory in Bihar dealt a blow to the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Mulayam’s role
Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav had played the role of a peacemaker between the two backward class heavyweights — RJD chief Lalu Prasad and his friend-turned-foe JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar — and they decided to contest the 2015 Bihar polls together. However, the Samajwadi Party had later pulled out of the Grand Alliance.
