lok-sabha-elections

Updated: Mar 16, 2019 17:14 IST

Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) leader Danish Ali on Saturday joined the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party, ahead of the coming Lok Sabha elections. Ali joined the BSP in the presence of the party’s national general secretary Satish Mishra at the BSP office in Lucknow.

According to BSP sources, Ali, who was considered as a top leader in former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda party, is likely to contest from Amroha in western Uttar Pradesh.

Commenting on the development Karnataka Chief Minister and senior JD-S leader HD Kumaraswamy said Ali joined the BSP with his and father Deve Gowda’s “consent”.

“Danish Ali, the JDS General Secretary, has joined BSP in consent with me and our national president Sri HD Devegowda in a purely political arrangement between the two parties. It is a thoughtful political decision taken by #JDS and BSP to win more seats in the Loksabha elections,” Kumaraswamy wrote on Twitter.

“My ideology matches with Mayawati’s ideology. We both strive to uplift the poor and weaker sections of the society. I now want to invest my energy for making the lives of the poor better,” news agency ANI quoted Ali as saying.

The BSP, which scored a nil in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls is contesting the general elections this time in the state in alliance with the Samajwadi Party and the Rashtriya Lok Dal. The BJP-led NDA alliance had won 73 out of 80 seats in the state in 2014.

The seven phased Lok Sabha elections is scheduled from April 11 to May 19. The counting of votes will take place on May 23.