Can a Pre-poll Opposition Alliance in Uttar Pradesh Help Unseat Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Beat BJP in 2022?
The larger opposition parties in Uttar Pradesh (UP) appear disinclined to enter into pre-poll understandings for the upcoming assembly elections in the state. Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav has kept his doors open for smaller parties but has ruled out any truck with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) or the Congress. The BSP and Congress on their part do not appear enthused about a formal tie-up with the SP either. The larger parties reluctance to work together is understandable at one level. Fingers have been burnt in recent years. The combined charms of Akhilesh and Rahul Gandhi failed to sway UP voters in the 2017 assembly election, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) receiving an unprecedented mandate. A supposedly game-changing SP-BSP alliance in the 2019 parliamentary elections came a cropper too, presenting no serious challenge to the BJPs re-bid for power in Delhi. Given this history, there are obvious questions around the on-ground chemistry of big party alliances in UP and whether such alliances could actually be triggering consolidations in the BJPs favor.