Confident of its own performance in the Lok Sabha elections, the Bahujan Samaj Party has snubbed the Mahan Dal which offered to support the BSP without any conditions. Mahan Dal president Keshav Dev Maurya claimed that he has met senior BSP leaders, including Akash Anand and BSP Rajya Sabha member Ashok Siddhartha, in Lucknow and is ready to field three candidates on BSP symbol if the party agrees to their support. He also said that his party would campaign in support of BSP candidates not just in Uttar Pradesh but also in other states like Madhya Pradesh, if the arrangement worked. However, BSP state president Vishwanath Pal, on Sunday, refuted Mauryas claims on support from Mahan Dal and said, I am not aware of any such talks. A senior BSP functionary said that the party president had not even accepted Keshav Dev Mauryas request for a meeting. This clearly shows that the party is in no mood or any alliance, he said. Formed in 2008, the Mahan Dal claims influence among voters from Maurya, Shakya, Kushwaha as well as Saini communities, in parts of central and western Uttar Pradesh, especially in regions like Etah, Bareli, Agra, Firozabad, Moradabad and Sambhal. According to sources, the Mahan Dal is eyeing three Lok Sabha seats – Etah, Agra and Farrukhabad. Mahan Dal had contested the 2009 and 2014 Lok Sabha elections in alliance with the Congress, which had given it seats to contest on the symbol of the grand old party. But the Mahan Dal failed to win any seat. The two parties did not come together after the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. In the 2022 UP assembly elections, Mahan Dal became an alliance partner of the Samajwadi Party. But after the polls it snapped ties with the SP and offered support to the BSP. It again entered into an alliance with the SP during the Madhya Pradesh elections last year and claimed to have contested three seats in the state on the SP symbol. Asked about his frequently changing alliance partners, Maurya said that they were unable to develop a relationship with Congress. We could never develop a relationship with Congress after 2014. We have a soft corner for Samajwadi Party, but it started giving importance to leaders like Swami Prasad Maurya and there were indications that the SP does not need our support, he said. Maurya said his community, comprising Maurya, Shakya, Kushwaha, feel closer to the ideologies of BSP as they are believers of Lord Buddha and Dr BR Ambedkar. Our community, especially Maurya, Shakya, Kushwaha, feels more inclined towards BSP ideologically, Maurya said.

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