UP bypolls: SP, BSP are like snake and mole coming together, says Yogi Adityanath

New Delhi: Reacting to the announcement by the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) of their support for the Samajwadi Party (SP) candidates in the March 11 bypolls to Phulpur and Gorakhpur Lok Sabha seats, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said on Monday that it was like snake and mole coming together.

"The tie-up between the SP and the BSP is like snake and mole coming together in the time of a storm. This is what the situation of the two parties is like," he said.

On Sunday, the BSP supremo, while ruling out the possibility of an electoral tie-up with the SP for the bypolls, had said that the two parties could help each other in the upcoming Rajya Sabha and Legislative Council elections and also suggested a possible formula for it.

Aaj phir dono (BSP & SP) ke gathhbandhan ki baatein sunne mein aa rahi hain. Aisa lagta hai jaise koi toofan aata hai toh saanp aur chuchundar ek saath milke khade ho jaate hain. Inki yeh sthiti aa chuki hai: UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath during a public rally in Gorakhpur pic.twitter.com/IIEmL3fMCj — ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) March 5, 2018

She had said that the BSP had not fielded any candidate from Phulpur and Gorakhpur, "but this does not mean that party workers will not cast their votes. They will, in fact, exercise their voting rights appropriately... As per my earlier directives, the BSP workers will vote for a candidate who will be in a position to defeat the BJP, and there is nothing wrong in it".

Mayawati had added that if SP and BSP legislators transfer their votes to defeat the BJP in the Rajya Sabha and UP Legislative Council polls, then it should not be perceived as an electoral alliance.

"The BSP on its own cannot send anyone to the Rajya Sabha. The SP too does not have the adequate number of MLAs that it can send two of its MPs to the Rajya Sabha. To ensure the victory of its second candidate, it will need additional votes. Our party after holding deliberations with the SP has decided that our party worker will go to the Rajya Sabha. In return, we will help them in the Legislative Council elections," she had said.

On the other hand, SP leader Ram Govind Chowdhury said in Ballia on Monday that the BJP will taste defeat in Gorakhpur bypolls and it will be the beginning of party's decline.

Gorakhpur and Phulpur seats were vacated by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and his deputy Keshav Prasad Maurya after the UP Assembly elections last year.

Gorakhpur is the home turf of Adityanath.

(With PTI inputs)