The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) on Monday tore down rumours of a “united opposition” in the making -- fuelled by a “fake” poster that circulated on Twitter showing Mayawati flanked by opposition leaders.
The poster that surfaced on the micro-blogging site on Sunday called for a united opposition for society’s sake. It had Mayawati on the lead and showed icons of opposition party leaders – Akhilesh Yadav, Tejashwi Yadav, Lalau Prasad Yadav, Sharad Yadav, Mamata Banerjee and Sonia Gandhi (from Left to Right).
Several news sites on Sunday reported that BSP’s twitter handle shared the poster – which if true could have been the NDA-led central government’s nightmare.
In an official statement by the party, it denied that any coalition is on the cards.
“Any post/poster generated on the social media (read twitter) on the working of the party does not carry credibility as there is no official twitter handle. BSP condemns the tweet,” said the press release.
This is not the first time when the talks of mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) are making rounds. In 2015, during Bihar elections, the Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD), Janta Dal United (JDU) and Congress came together to ward off the the "saffron party" BJP. This political alliance, though, did not last long as Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar recently ran out of the merger to shake hands with the ruling BJP.
However, the talks of a united left has been long speculated after the NDA managed to sweep almost all the major states in subsequent wins, especially Uttar Pradesh in March this year.
In an initiative by RJD, United opposition is to hold a rally on August 27 in Patna, where Akhilesh Yadav is expected to participate. Congress too has planned a mega Opposition rally in Gujarat on September 1. BSP supremo Mayawat is expected to attend both the events.
