BSP chief Mayawati and SP supremo Akhilesh Yadav address the media in Lucknow on Saturday. (Express photo/Vishal Srivastav) BSP chief Mayawati and SP supremo Akhilesh Yadav address the media in Lucknow on Saturday. (Express photo/Vishal Srivastav)

Twenty-four years after the infamous guesthouse episode, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president Mayawati have decided to bury the hatchet and begin their seat-sharing preparations for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections against the ruling BJP. Making a formal announcement in this regard during a joint press meet in Lucknow today, Mayawati took a jibe at the central government, saying, “This press conference will give sleepless nights to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah.”

The holding of the joint press conference was announced on Friday by SP national secretary Rajendra Chaudhary and Bahujan Samaj Party national general secretary SC Misra. However, leaving aside two Lok Sabha seats — Amethi and Rae Bareli — for the Congress, there are as many as 13 Lok Sabha seats where the two parties may have to negotiate hard, given their performance in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections against the BJP. Earlier this week, Mayawati had used the words “SP-BSP alliance” for the first time in a statement through which she expressed support for Akhilesh Yadav whose alleged role in a mining scam has now come under the CBI scanner.