Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) which is not part of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (I.N.D.I.A) bloc on Thursday expressed its willingness to join the alliance with conditions apply. The BSP contested the 2019 Lok Sabha polls in UP in alliance with the Samajwadi Party and won 10 seats.
BSP MP Malook Nagar on Thursday said, "Mayawati Ji should be declared as Prime Ministerial candidate," indicating party's willingness to join the alliance. Interestingly, Mayawati had claimed that both the NDA and the INDIA blocs consist of parties most of which have "anti-poor, casteist, communal, pro-rich and capitalist policies" against which the BSP's struggle continues.
Meanwhile, party workers of the respective parties the JDU and the TMC have also expressed their desires for Nitish Kumar and Mamata Banerjee to be declared as the Prime Ministerial candidate.
To go solo
In July, BSP chief Mayawati had announced that her party will go it alone in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections as well as in Assembly polls in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Telangana. In a statement, Mayawati said the BSP was open to tie-ups with regional parties in Punjab and Haryana, provided they have no truck with the ruling NDA alliance or the newly formed opposition coalition 'I.N.D.I.A'. The former Uttar Pradesh chief minister slammed the NDA as well as the newly formed opposition coalition, alleging neither of them was favourable to the Dalits and the oppressed classes.
