New Delhi: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati and Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav, who are in talks of forging an alliance for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, have called a joint press conference tomorrow.
The two leaders are expected to make an announcement of their alliance to take on the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Uttar Pradesh in the general polls due in May.
Last week, both the leaders held a meeting in New Delhi and have reportedly moved closer to finalise a seat-sharing formula leaving the Congress out of the coalition fold.
It was proposed that both parties will equally distribute between them 78 Lok Sabha seats, reports said.
However, the SP-BSP combo has reportedly decided not to field candidates in Amethi and Rae Bareli, the seats represented in the Lok Sabha by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi respectively.
The Congress party, which is expecting a snub, has been speaking about going alone. The party has also gained confidence after it managed to win in the recently-concluded Assembly elections.
However, what can give a major headache to the Congress is that parties in other states can also try to replicate SP-BSP formula and keep it out of the alliance.
In 2014 Lok Sabha election, the BJP and its ally Apna Dal managed to win 73 of Uttar Pradesh's 80 parliamentary seats, while the BSP, SP and the Congress were decimated.
