The Dalit leader had said he would unite the Bahujan parties in the run-up to the Lok Sabha election and remove the Narendra Modi government from power at the Centre.
Lucknow: After Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) announced their alliance on Saturday for upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad extended his support for the alliance albeit with reservations.
In a Twitter post on Sunday, Azad said that the SP-BSP alliance should have included the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) for its fight against the BJP.
He said, “I am not going to contest any elections and I absolutely support the alliance as our main objective is to defeat the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections. All political parties who want to save the Constitution must come together, then only the BJP can be defeated. Thus, the RLD should also have been included in the SP-BSP alliance.”
Once-arch rivals, SP and BSP announced their tie-up in Uttar Pradesh for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, sharing 38 seats each and keeping the Congress out of the alliance. The alliance left only two seats for others.
However, sources from RLD on Sunday told News18 that the party is still negotiating with the alliance leaders. “RLD is a partner, we fought with SP in Kairana. We will get more seats. Mayawati is unlikely to be flexible and give up any of her 38 seats, so we will reach out to Akhilesh. We may get more seats from SP’s kitty,” sources said.
In December, Azad had expressed the same sentiments at the ‘Agenda Aaj Tak’ event in New Delhi. “We will not allow the Congress and the BJP rule alternatively (in the country) … The third front will rise and we will strengthen the Bahujan movement. We will also make the BSP go back to ‘Bahujan hitaya’ from ‘Sarvjan hitaya’,” he said.
Asked about which party the Bhim Army would support in the 2019 parliamentary polls, Azad said, “There are the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in Uttar Pradesh, Tejashwi (Yadav’s) party (RJD) in Bihar, (and) Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD). I will find others in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.”
The Dalit leader said he would unite the Bahujan parties in the run-up to the Lok Sabha election and remove the Narendra Modi government from power at the Centre.