BSP rules out tie-up with MIM

The BSP today rubbished speculations about a possible tie-up with the Hyderabad-based AIMIM and said it will contest all 403 seats alone in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls, slated to be held in 2017. BSP's National General Secretary Swami Prasad Maurya said, "There is no question of a tie-up with the party of Owaisi brothers. The BSP does not require any electoral alliance in UP." "The party will fight on its own and emerge victorious, like it had done in the 2007 Assembly polls, under the leadership of BSP supremo Mayawati," he said. The party will fight on the plank of "Kanoon ka Raj" (rule of law) against BJP's 'Danga Raj' and SP's 'Goonda Raj', Maurya, who was among the senior most Cabinet ministers in the previous BSP government, said. Maurya was responding to queries about a possible tie-up with parties like the AIMIM and the Congress against the backdrop of the spectacular performance of Grand Alliance in Bihar Assembly elections, where arch rivals Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad had joined hands to defeat the BJP and its allies. "The Congress may have been a part of the 'Mahagathbandhan' in Bihar, but the situation is different in UP. The party is a spent force here and does not even have adequate number of grassroots workers. On the other hand, we have a formidable organization," Maurya said. "Similarly, the AIMIM is a non-entity in UP. It has little influence beyond Hyderabad, which is the hometown of the Owaisis. Even in Bihar, where it had announced its decision to contest Assembly polls with so much fanfare, it came a cropper," he added. "Moreover, we had got a majority on our own in UP in 2007. Our track record while in power will be sufficient to propel our party towards victory. "We will fight the next Assembly elections by offering the alternative of 'Kanoon ka Raj' as against the BJP's "Danga Raj' and the ruling SP's 'Goonda Raj,'" Maurya,, said.