No question of alliance with NDA, INDIA as both are casteist, says Mayawati

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati said that the NDA and the INDIA alliance are mostly parties with policies that are anti-poor, casteist, communal, pro-business, and capitalist

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati on Wednesday said that her party will not form any alliance with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) or the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA).

Taking to X (formerly known as Twitter), she said that her party would go solo in the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections and the Legislative Assembly elections.

She tweeted: "The NDA and the INDIA alliance are mostly parties with policies that are anti-poor, casteist, communal, pro-business, and capitalist. The BSP is in constant conflict against their policies, so the question of forming an alliance with them and contesting elections doesn't even arise."

The BSP supremo also said that the media should refrain from spreading fake news.

"Appeal to the media — no fake news please," she tweeted.

"The BSP, like in 2007, will single-handedly contest the upcoming Lok Sabha and four State Assembly general elections by uniting crores of neglected/scattered society on the basis of mutual brotherhood rather than the jugaad/manipulation of the opponents," she tweeted in Hindi.

"Generally, everyone here is eager for an alliance with the BSP, but if they don't proceed in this manner, the Opposition accuses them of colluding with the BJP, much like the pot calling the kettle black. If they align with them, they're called secular, and if they don't align, they're called BJP supporters," the BSP chief tweeted.

On Tuesday, the BSP announced that the party has expelled senior leader Imran Masood, a prominent face in western Uttar Pradesh, for alleged anti-party activities and indiscipline.

The NDA is led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and includes parties such as the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), the Lok Jan Shakti Party (Ram Vilas Paswan), the National People's Party (NPP), among others.

The INDIA alliance is a cohort of several Opposition parties formed to challenge the BJP. It includes parties such as the Congress, the Trinamool Congress (TMC), the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), and others.