Putative SP-BSP unity will be tested in the next few months

Mayawati's Rajya Sabha term ends in April 2018, and she will need the SP to get re-elected

The recent bonhomie between Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) members in the Rajya Sabha has raised hopes of a united front against the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Uttar Pradesh in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

But this putative unity of the Uttar Pradesh (UP) archrivals will be tested next year in the Rajya Sabha elections, when BSP chief Mayawati’s term ends, and before that in the by-poll for the Gorakhpur Lok Sabha seat, which has fallen vacant after its sitting member Adityanath Yogi has quit and sworn in as the UP chief minister.

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