More than two months after joining hands with the Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC), the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) on Thursday snapped its ties with the regional outfit for the Assembly elections slated to be held on October 13.
“The Alliance between the BSP and HJC is now called off, and the BSP is to contest 90 Assembly seats on its own without the support of any other political party,” said BSP general secretary and incharge of Haryana party affairs Man Singh Manhera here. On August 24, Manhera and HJC supremo Kuldeep Bishnoi had announced in Chandigarh that their parties would contest 40 and 50 seats respectively, and also declared the seats from where they would field their candidates.
Manhera accused Bishnoi of not cooperating in observing the alliance dharma as he used to remain absent from the alliance meeting. He claimed the HJC was demanding 30 seats for the BJP against the principles and policies of the BSP.
Denying the allegations, the HJC supremo said the decision to call off the alliance was taken by the BSP on its own and was one-sided. “Now, we will contest all the 90 Assembly seats independently,” he added.
On June 18, Chief Minister Mayawati had announced her party’s decision to enter into an alliance with the HJC in the presence of Bhajan Lal at her official residence in Lucknow. They had also finalised the seat-sharing arrangement. The BSP had got 40 seats while the HJC got the remaining 50 seats. Both the parties had also agreed to project Bhajan Lal’s son Kuldeep Bishnoi as the chief ministerial candidate.
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