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Updated: Jun 03, 2019 23:27 IST

Jolted by the Bahujan Samaj Party’s (BSP) decision on Monday to contest the 11 assembly bypolls in Uttar Pradesh on its own, the Samajwadi Party which is still smarting after a disastrous performance in the Lok Sabah elections, is scrambling for a response.

BSP chief Mayawati’s announcement on the UP by-polls in Delhi on Monday is being seen as an indication of the end of the SP-BSP alliance.

“We don’t know how to react. She herself had said that the alliance is for keeps and the two parties will go to the 2022 UP poll together. The way she has blamed the SP for the poor poll results, indicate that she has called off the alliance though she has not said so yet. It’s better that we be cautious in what we say. We don’t want to make any premature comments and are waiting for party chief Akhilesh Yadav’s response and direction on it,” said a senior SP leader.

The shocker from Mayawati came on the day when Akhilesh began an attempt to reactivate the party. He was in Azamgarh on a thanksgiving visit to his constituency.

Ten BJP MLAs and one SP MLA won the Lok Sabha elections in UP and by-polls are to be held on all those 11 assembly seats.

“I am not aware of it. Hard work is needed on the ground to defeat the BJP and our party will do that,” Akhilesh told reporters in Azamgarh when asked for a response to Mayawati’s accnouncemnt.

The SP, BSP and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) contested the 2019 polls in alliance against the BJP. BSP contested 38 seats, SP 37, and RLD 3. They left two seats – Amethi and Rae Bareli – for the Congress but refused to ally with it.

However, BSP emerged the gainer from the polls with 10 seats. It had drawn a blank in 2014. The SP could win just five – the same as it did in 2014. RLD had won none in 2014 and drew a blank this time too.

This was the third successive poor show of the SP since Akhilesh Yadav took over the reins of the party. The first drubbing was the 2014 polls followed by the 2017 UP assembly polls, and now the 2019 LS polls.

The SP had won 23 seats in 2009 Lok Sabha polls and the tally came down to five in 2014 and 2019. In 2017 assembly polls the SP shrunk to 47 seats against its 224 seats of 2012.

Akhilesh’s alliance with the Congress did not work in 2017 and it has been the same story with the alliance with the BSP in 2019.

Prof SK Dwivedi, a political analyst and retired head of department of political science, Lucknow University, said: “Akhilesh continues to be an immature leader of a large political party. I had said earlier also that he should have had mended fences with Shivpal in some way or should have allied with the Congress. His father had cautioned him, yet Akhilesh went ahead with the alliance with BSP ignoring the history of BSP-SP alliance earlier.”

“BSP has gained and also revived itself and SP has lost. Now, BSP is cashing in on its gains and has turned ambitious about the forthcoming by-polls. What everyone saw and predicted about Mayawati, he (Akhilesh) could not. And see all those predictions seem to be coming true,” he said.