The meeting went on for about an hour at the Mall Avenue residence of Mayawati. Before the two leaders met, Mayawati cancelled a scheduled trip to Delhi. The senior SP leader said that Akhilesh and Mayawati were not keen on participating in any formal opposition meeting before the result day. In Uttar Pradesh, the gathbandhan hopes to ride on the arithmetic based on social calculations in a bid to outclass the BJP. The BJP and ally Apna Dal won 73 (71+2) of the 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh in 2014, and the Congress two.

Source: Hindustan Times May 20, 2019 15:33 UTC