Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh on Saturday, 3 July, met Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav at the latter's party office, giving rise to speculation about an alliance between the two parties ahead of the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.
Both parties are yet to come out officially on the agenda of the meeting.
According to PTI, Singh refused to divulge any details of the meeting, saying he met the SP supremo to convey birthday greetings to him and discussed the political situation in Uttar Pradesh.
Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party dubbed the meeting to be an informal one.
"Sanjay ji was once with the party (SP) and both the leaders have been close. They have been meeting on earlier occasions as well. As of now, there is no official political understanding that has been reached,"Samajwadi Party spokesperson Juhie Singh
Yadav has categorically said that SP will avoid big parties and form alliances with smaller parties in the state for the upcoming 2022 Assembly elections. RLD is likely to be part of the SP alliance.
Meanwhile, Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati on Friday slammed the SP, saying that the party's working style and anti-Dalit ideology had forced it to ally with smaller parties in Uttar Pradesh.
In a series of tweets a day after Yadav's declaration, Mayawati described the Samajwadi Party as 'helpless,' and said that its anti-Dalit approach had made all major parties stay away from it.
'The Samajwadi Party is left with no option but to go with smaller parties and this reflects its helplessness now," she said.
(With inputs from PTI)
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