BSP to contest UP polls alone: Mayawati

The Bahujan Samaj Party will not enter into any alliance for Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand assembly polls, party chief Mayawati said on Sunday.

In a series of tweets in Hindi, the former chief minister categorically denied any tie-up with the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen for the assembly election in Uttar Pradesh due next year.

'A news channel is broadcasting news since yesterday that in the upcoming UP Assembly elections, the BSP will contest along with (Asaduddin) Owaisi's party AIMIM.

'This news is completely wrong, misleading and devoid of any fact. There is not even an iota of truth in this. The BSP vociferously denies this.

'The party wants to clarify that barring Punjab, the BSP will be contesting the Assembly elections to be held in UP and Uttarakhand alone, and will not be entering into any alliance with anyone,' Mayawati said in another tweet.

The BSP has recently joined hands with the Shiromani Akali Dal in Punjab.

Mayawati said that BSP general secretary and Rajya Sabha MP Satish Chandra Misra has been made the national co-ordinator of the party's media cell.

She also appealed to the media to consult Misra before publishing any news regarding the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) or its national president.

Mayawati, 65, is a four-time former chief minister of UP.

Her party had tied up with Akhilesh Yadav's Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Lok Dal in Uttar Pradesh for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

The BSP had won 10 seats while the SP had bagged five out of 80 Lok Sabha seats.