The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is reported to be in talks with the Congress and Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) to form an alliance in Uttar Pradesh (UP) for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The BSP has conditions for the alliance, according to party insiders. Although party president Mayawati has previously stated that the BSP would contest the Lok Sabha elections without an alliance, the party reportedly sees an alliance as necessary to survive electorally against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). BSP sources say that alliance talks in UP are ongoing, with the party apparently seeking favours from Congress in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, and Madhya Pradesh. Conversely, Congress is said to want to join forces with the BSP in UP, as the former is stronger in the other states.
The BSP has its own conditions for a national alliance with opposition parties, the main one being that Mayawati should be projected as the Prime Ministerial candidate. If the opposition parties accept this, the BSP may consider allowing the Samajwadi Party to be part of the coalition. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has reportedly not reached out to Mayawati, even though the BSP is focusing on the poll arithmetic and a post-poll alliance rather than individual vote shares for each opposition party.
A party leader has emphasized the need for the opposition parties to realize that defeating the BJP requires the grouping to take a bite out of its vote share rather than simply accumulating individual scores. Therefore, a post-poll alliance could be the better option for all opposition parties as their strengths would be known by then. However, Mayawati has emphasized that the BSP is ready to fight the election alone if necessary.
