Mamata welcomes Mayawati's stand on SP-BSP tie up amid Rajya Sabha defeat

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday welcomed BSP supremo Mayawati's statement that the BSP-SP understanding in Uttar Pradesh won't be affected by the Rajya Sabha poll results in the state.

"I welcome the views expressed by Mayawati-ji today. We are strongly with her and @yadavakhilesh in this mission for the nation," she said in a tweet.

The BJP yesterday won the 9 Rajya Sabha seats it contested in UP. One remaining seat was claimed by the Samajwadi Party.

Mayawati alleged the BJP tried to create a rift between the two parties (SP and BSP) by indulging in malpractices to defeat her party candidate.

"There will not be an iota of difference in the close understanding between the BSP and the SP because of the Rajya Sabha results yesterday," Mayawati said at a press conference in Lucknow today.

Her remarks came after SP chief Akhilesh Yadav cancelled the victory celebration for his party nominee Jaya Bachchan to be held in the state capital today as a sign of solidarity with the BSP whose lone candidate backed by the SP lost in the Rajya Sabha polls.

Banerjee, who had met TRS chief K Chandrashekhar Rao here on Monday, said talks for a broad front against the BJP have begun.

"In a democracy, such situation comes up when all parties need to come together to work," Banerjee had said.

Banerjee is slated to attend an opposition parties' meet convened by NCP chief Sharad Pawar in New Delhi next week, a Trinamool Congress source here said.