One day after reports of some suspended Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) MLAs meeting with SP chief Akhilesh Yadav surfaced, BSP chief Mayawati on Wednesday said it is an illusion. She said the Samajwadi Party was an expert in “narrow-minded politics” of casteism, manipulations and malice.

Mayawati said that those MLAs were suspended from the party long back for colluding with the SP and an industrialist during the Rajya Sabha elections for defeating a Dalit candidate.

One of the rebel MLAs, Aslam Raini, however, said they also had the option open of forming their own party if they could muster 12 MLAs. So far, 11 MLAs from the BSP have been suspended in the recent past.

Ms. Mayawati said that if the SP was honest towards these MLAs, it would not keep them hanging. The SP knew that if it took in these BSP MLAs, there would be a rebellion in the SP, whose MLAs were restless to join the BSP, she added.

The BSP had won 19 seats in 2017. However, while on paper it has 16 MLAs, its actual strength is down to just seven due to rebellions and the recent expulsion of senior legislators Lalji Verma and Ram Achal Rajbhar.

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