The contours of the mighty mahagathbandhan or grand coalition of Opposition parties to bring the BJP to its knees, is not emerging as clearly as some people thought it would. There is no apparent reason why the two big regional parties in the state, the Samajwadi party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), have decided to keep the Congress out. One-time bitter rivals SP and BSP had seemingly buried the hatchet by announcing an “in principle” alliance in the state, but significantly, made no mention of the Congress. The reality is that the BSP, SP and the Congress are vying for the same vote bank, the Dalit-Muslim-Backward castes and an alliance between them might invariably result in their vote banks shifting to the Congress. Any reverting back to the status quo can hardly be welcomed by the regional parties in UP.

Source: dna January 07, 2019 01:30 UTC