The Samajwadi Party today declared that it was ‘‘next to impossible’’ to align with the Congress or the Left parties as they were having a truck with the BSP, which is the other side of the BJP. ‘‘I treat BJP and BSP alike’’ anyone having ties with the Mayawati-led party was ‘‘unaccpetable to us’’, party general secretary Amar Singh said ruling out any further seat adjustment in Uttar Pradesh ‘‘where the real electoral battle would be fought’’. An apparently agitated Amar Singh said secular parties including Congress and the Left were courting BSP and he was at a loss to understand how they could do so when Mayawati had thrice fought the elections on an anti-BJP plank and then joined hands with the saffron brigade after the polls. Questioning the Congress’s logic behind talking with BSP, he said Mayawati had once sought to counter Priyanka’s Dalit politics in UP and renamed Amethi district after a dalit leader. When asked who would be fielded in Lucknow against PM A.B. Vajpayee, he said the party had not yet decided. Taking exception to a reporter hinting at a tacit understanding with BJP, he said such a comment was akin to abusing the SP, which had always fought against communal and fascist forces and never aligned with them. ‘‘Why are our credentials being questioned, when it is the BSP that has always aligned with the BJP,’’ he said ruling out any post-poll alignment with the saffron party.
