Speculation over whether Mulayam will share stage with Mayawati in Mainpuri

Sharing the stage with the BSP president would mean the two leaders have buried their differences since the June 5, 1995 incident where SP cadres made an attempt on Mayawati's life at a Lucknow guest house.

Though there are reports that Mulayam Singh Yadav was adamant on not joining the joint rally as he is opposed to the SP's alliance with BSP. But if he succumbs to the pressure of his son and SP president Akhilesh Yadav, it would be a history of sorts and send a message of Opposition unity against Prime Minister Narendra Modi's BJP.

Forgetting the decades-long rivalry, Mayawati, along with Akhilesh Yadav and other leaders of both the parties and RLD will address a joint rally at Christian College ground on Friday at 1pm.

But confusion still persists whether Mulayam Singh Yadav will attend the rally or not. Recently a letter of appeal issued by the SP state president Naresh Uttam, asked the party supporters to join the rally in large number of a joint rally to be addressed by Mayawati, Akhilesh Yadav and RLD president Ajit Singh. The name of Mulayam Singh Yadav was missing from the list of leaders slated to address the joint rally.

However, Akhilesh Yadav told reporters more than once that his father would attend the Mainpuri rally.

Mulayam, who is against the SP's alliance with the BSP, has made his views on the issue public on more than once occasion.

The SP patriarch refused to address a public meeting on April 1 after filing his nomination papers and have so far not campaigned even for a day so far. The polling in Mainpuri seat is slated on April 23 in the third phase where the campaigning will end on April 21.

Mayawati sharing the stage with Mulayam Singh could be seen as a game changer to convert caste arithmetic into votes and enthuse party workers to work collectively with co-ordination.

In 1993, the SP-BSP had formed an alliance to stop the BJP's growing influence after the Ram temple movement gained momentum. Then SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and BSP founder Kanshi Ram had joined hands. Both the leaders were able to outflank the BJP.

The alliance, however, did not last and ended in 1995 after the infamous Meera Bai Marg guest house incident wherein SP workers attacked Mayawati.

Akhilesh, Mayawati and RLD president Ajit Singh launched their the joint election campaign on April 7 by addressing a rally in Deoband in Western UP.

After Deoband, back to back joint rallies have been planned for Akhilesh and Mayawati in Meerut, Bijnore, Bulandshahr, Badaun, Aligarh, Agra, Amroha, Mainpuri and other important constituencies.

However, due to the EC's ban on Mayawati for 48 hours, the BSP president could not attend the joint rally of the alliance in Agra on Tuesday.

The BJP has strongly criticised Mayawati's decision to seek vote for Mulayam.

"Mayawati, before going to Mainpuri, should address the Dalits across the country and inform them about the need to campaign in favour of Mulayam, the leader which she has been criticising for a very long time," said Uttar Pradesh BJP spokesperson Chandramohan here on Thursday.

Image: UNI