The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Samajwadi Party (SP) on Tuesday announced that they will contest all 48 Lok Sabha seats in the state in an alliance.
The SP may fight around five seats as part of the understanding, including two from Mumbai, and pitch itself as the larger partner during the state assembly polls due later this year.
The campaign will be launched in a rally at Nagpur on April 5, which will be attended by BSP chief Mayawati. Former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav may also grace the event.
The SP-BSP alliance may add to the troubles of the opposition Congress and NCP, which is already facing a challenge from former MP Prakash Ambedkar's Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi alliance with the All India Majlis E Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM).
The alliance was announced by SP state president and MLA Abu Asim Azmi, BSP state unit in-charge Ashok Siddharth and BSP Maharashtra president Suresh Sakhare on Tuesday.
A senior SP leader said they planned to contest five seats including North Mumbai, North Central Mumbai, and Nanded. Leaders from the two parties will finalise the seat sharing. "SP candidates will contest on the BSP symbol in seats where they have a strong presence and vice-versa," he added.
The SP had been earlier trying to strike an alliance with the Congress and had sought one Lok Sabha seat. It later watered down its demands to keeping away from the contest in return of three assembly segments of Mankhurd- Shivajinagar (represented by Azmi), Byculla and Bhiwandi, but failed to reach a breakthrough.
The alliance will try and capitalise on the votes of the Muslims, who form around 14 per cent of the state's population. While the Scheduled Castes (SC), including Buddhist Dalits, who are among the most socially and politically organised, constitute around 14 per cent of the population.
The BSP, whose founder Kanshiram began his political activism from Pune, has a committed vote base in most constituencies. However, it despite playing the spoiler, it has drawn a blank in the Lok Sabha and assembly polls in spite of a committed cadre base and a transferable share of votes.
