NEW DELHI: Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati has asked her partymen to ensure smooth coordination with the Samajwadi Party , her party’s rival-turned prospective alliance partner, with hardly a year left for the Lok Sabha elections . As part of BSP’s preparation for the 2019 LS polls, Mayawati held a meeting with her party coordinators at her residence in Lucknow on Monday.This was her first such meeting after her party’s growing proximity to SP became clear. The coordinators are her main link with BSP grassroots workers. BSP had announced support to the SP in the recently-concluded Lok Sabha bypolls to Gorakhpur and Phulpur, which the latter won by handing a shock defeat to BJP. Another by-election is due for the Kairana LS seat.Traditionally, BSP does not contest by-elections. By announcing that the defeat of BSP’s candidate in a Rajya Sabha poll last weekend would cause a bigger loss for BJP, Mayawati has moved a step closer to an alliance with the SP for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.She wants BSP coordinators to complete their task of constituting booth committees at the earliest and subsequently, focus on the preparation for the 2019 LS polls. She told party coordinators that her alliance with SP was aimed at defeating the BJP and asked them to remain alert to possible attempts that could be made to break the BSP-SP unity. She also underlined on the need for unity among opposition parties in UP to stop the BJP from returning to power at the Centre after the 2019 LS polls.BSP has presence in Punjab, Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Bihar and Rajasthan. It has deployed coordinators in most of the states. Sources in BSP said she may join hands with different parties of the Opposition at the national level.In a related development, she asked her party coordinators to celebrate the birth anniversary of Baba Saheb Ambedkar on April 14 at divisional levels across UP.