Summary:
Mayawati has not contested in Lok Sabha elections since 2004. However, the share of seats to the Congress and its position in the alliance has not been finalized yet though both SP and BSP have agreed to support Congress president Rahul Gandhi and ex-president Sonia Gandhi in their constituencies - Amethi and Rae Bareli. After a prolonged discussion between the top leadership of the two parties and their trusted aides, a seat-sharing formula has been drawn on the basis of factors like areas of influence, traditional stronghold, big constituencies, performance of the two parties in the past two elections. LUCKNOW: Much away from the media limelight, high-level talks between the top leadership of Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party have reportedly entered the final phase to firm an alliance for collectively taking on the ruling BJP in 2019 general elections.Reliable sources reveal that SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and BSP supremo Mayawati are in constant touch and have agreed accommodate each other's wishes and not to be rigid on particular constituencies. "The growing chorus for an alliance with the BSP - in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan with Congress, in Haryana with INLD and in UP with SP - has given wings to the prime ministerial ambitions Mayawati, who wants the alliances to be on a rock-solid foundation," reveals a top-ranking BSP functionary..