LUCKNOW: Tworegional parties that were former bitter rivals announced an unlikely allianceyesterday to fight Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling Hindunationalist party in a looming general election. The Samajwadi Party (SP) andthe Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) -- key players in the northern state of UttarPradesh -- said they would set aside their differences to jointly fight Modi inthe bedrock state.
The twocentral-left parties have widespread support among lower castes and poor votersacross the state -- India's most populous, with 220 million people. UttarPradesh is a bellwether of national politics, accounting for 80 of the 552members of parliament in New Delhi. An election is expected to be held in Apriland May and one recent poll indicated Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) mayfall short of a majority.
Akhilesh Yadav,the Samajwadi Party head, said the alliance would counter the "divisivepolitics" of the BJP, which won a landslide victory in 2014. "The BJPis dividing the country, it is stoking fear and hatred among communities,"Yadav told a news conference sat alongside Mayawati, a popular low-caste leaderwho heads the BSP. The parties, which will contest 38 seats each out of thestate's 80, left the main opposition Congress party out of the alliance.
The two have beenfierce rivals in recent years. They teamed up in 1993 and formed the UttarPradesh state government but relations soured after Mayawati said she wasassaulted by Samajwadi Party activists in 1995. Modi's BJP suffered a rarereverse when it lost three key state elections to Congress last month, amiddiscontent over unemployment and economic inequality. A BJP spokesman playeddown the importance of the alliance.
"We areconfident. Even if all the parties come together, we will still win,"Sudhanshu Trivedi told reporters in Delhi where the BJP is holding a keyconvention. Modi rallied 10,000 party workers at the convention, dismissingcritics who say his policies harm the poor. "During our time there has notbeen a single corruption allegation against us," he said "We believein treating everyone equally and taking the country on the path ofdevelopment." - AFP