New Delhi: SP chief Mulayam Singh today said that he is ready to join hands with his arch-rival and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati if Lalu Prasad Yadav mediates in this regard.
The SP chief was responding to Lalu Prasad Yadav’s recent suggestion that Mulayam Singh Yadav and Maywati should also joined hands in Uttar Pradesh to defeat the BJP in the same way as he has allied with his bitter foe Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (U) in Bihar.
The coming together of two traditional arch-rivals can mark a new beginning in the caste-driven politics of Uttar Pradesh, where the SP is currently in power. Ending weeks of speculation, RJD chief Lalu Prasad and JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar last week came together and launched a joint campaign for the August 21 by-election to 10 assembly seats in Bihar.
The two former chief ministers shared stage after nearly 23 years, marking the beginning of a new phase in the politics of the state. Lalu attacked the NDA govt and took digs at Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressing a rally at Hajipur with Nitish Kumar.
Nitish Kumar, who had parted ways with Lalu in 1994 and succeeded in dethroning him in Bihar in 2005 in alliance with BJP, said the Narendra Modi government at the Centre knows that it cannot fulfil the tall promises it has made and will resort to spreading religious passion to cling to power.
It was in 1991 Lok Sabha polls that Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar was last seen together in campaigning. Nitish Kumar, who had contested from Barh constituency then, had lost. Their alliance was announced on July 30 and their leaders said the move was necessary to strengthen secular forces and to defeat communal parties. JD(U) and RJD, which parted ways in 1994, came together after the BJP swept the recent Lok Sabha polls in Bihar.
Bureau Report
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