LUCKNOW: In a setback to Samajwadi Party ( SP ), Bahujan Samaj Party ( BSP ) chief Mayawati sprang a surprise on Monday by announcing that she would not activate her party cadres for any of the upcoming byelections in UP.

After its twin wins with BSP’s support in Gorakhpur and Phulpur bypolls , SP was eyeing the byelections for Kairana parliamentary and Noorpur assembly seats in the coming months. The BSP leader’s announcement means that SP will have to be on its own in the bypolls till the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

In a press statement issued after a meeting Mayawati held with BSP’s district and zonal coordinators, the party said: “BSP will not activate its cadres in any bypoll in future, the way it did it in Gorakhpur and Phulpur.”

The announcement comes three days after BSP lost the Rajya Sabha election to BJP despite getting support from SP.

Speaking after the defeat, while expressing satisfaction at SP’s effort to back her party, Mayawati had emphasized on Saturday that SP chief Akhilesh Yadav had displayed political immaturity in depending on independent MLA Raghuraj Pratap Singh for BSP candidate’s victory. She also said that had she been in Akhilesh’s place, “I would have given first priority to the BSP candidate”.

Read also: BSP suspends MLA who voted for BJP, Mayawati alleges wrongdoing

Intriguingly, the press note on Monday was issued soon after the meeting with district and zonal coordinators, where Mayawati reportedly said that BSP, SP and all opposition parties must work together to ensure that BJP is not allowed to come back to power in 2019.

“We have taken the decision to extend ties between BSP and SP for the good of the country and its people. BJP may try as hard as it likes to instigate people against BSP and SP, but it will fail. We, and all other opposition parties, will have to work together to ensure that BJP does not come back to power,” she is believed to have told the coordinators.

The press note comes in the wake of Mayawati’s reiteration on multiple occasions since Saturday that the Rajya Sabha result would not have an impact on the “nazdeeki” (closeness) between SP and BSP.

In the Rajya Sabha polls, the BSP candidate managed 32 votes but still lost to BJP.

All seven Congress MLAs and another seven from SP had voted for it, though she had asked for support of “10 SP MLAs” for the BSP candidate. While RLD had also pledged to have voted for the BSP candidate, its MLA’s vote was declared void. After the results, Mayawati had said that BSP would rethink its relations with RLD. “It was declared void purposely to benefit BJP. We need to rethink as far as RLD is concerned,” she had said.

Sources in BSP said Mayawati’s decision not to activate party’s cadres for the bypolls could be tactically aimed at the Kairana bypoll.

“RLD is likely to field former MP and party vice-president Jayant Chaudhary in the Kairana bypoll. If she were to support SP, it may alienate the Jat voters. On the other hand, were she to extend support to RLD, which is now unlikely after the Rajya Sabha polls, it could have had an adverse impact on Muslim voters. Since BSP itself does not contest bypolls, it would make sense for it to stay away right now,” said a party insider.

