Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday appealed to ‘Ambedkarwadis’ to join the alliance led by him for the upcoming Uttar Pradesh elections 2022. The Yadav scion made the remarks when he was asked whether Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) would have any impact on the poll prospects of the SP-Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) alliance.

Addressing a joint press conference with RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary, Yadav said he has always advocated for coming together of ‘Ambedkarwadis’ and ‘Samajwadis’ as there is an urgent need to save the Constitution and democracy in the country.

The Yadav scion’s open invitation to the BSP supremo assumes great significance because if SP and BSP come together, then the Yadav-Dalit combination can prove to be a threat to the Yogi Adityanath-powered BJP in Uttar Pradesh polls 2022.

While SP enjoys the support of Yadav and Muslims, Mayawati has a stronghold among her core Jatav (Dalit) voters.

Yadav’s comments can be viewed as an open appeal to Mayawati to join the alliance of SP-RLD and other smaller parties like the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party.

Ahead of the 2019 General elections, Akhilesh Yadav had joined hands with ‘Bua’ Mayawati opting for a 50:50 distribution of 80 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh.

The SP-BSP alliance did not last much longer and Mayawati parted ways within two weeks after the 2019 Lok Sabha elections results were announced.

Interestingly, Samajwadi Party has emerged as the main challenger to the ruling BJP in the upcoming Uttar Pradesh elections 2022.

It would be very interesting to see Mayawati’s reaction to Akhilesh’s invitation and even the saffron unit would be closely watching her movements.

The voting in the first phase for the UP elections 2022 will commence on February 10. The polling will be conducted in seven phases and the Uttar Pradesh poll results will be declared on March 10