Lucknow: Smaller parties in Uttar Pradesh are now looking for the proverbial 'big brother', ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
With the Samajwadi-led alliance having almost crumbled, these parties want an option that will help them ride piggyback on to the centre stage of state politics.
The Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP), led by Om Prakash Rajbhar, had contested the 2022 Assembly election in alliance with the Samajwadi Party (SP). The alliance snapped after the polls.
Rajbhar is now seen trying to mend fences with the BJP and he made a beginning by voting for the NDA candidate in the recent Presidential polls.
However, the BJP does not seem too keen to take the SBSP back on board since Rajbhar is now perceived as an 'unreliable ally.'
Nevertheless, Rajbhar makes it a point to praise the Yogi Adityanath government from time to time.
"If any party does something good, why should I not appreciate it? We are a political party and we take decisions that benefit the weaker sections of society," he said.
Rajbhar has also shown his keenness to ally with the BSP but Mayawati is apparently in no mood to have any truck with SBSP.
The Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party Lohia (PSPL), led by Shivpal Singh Yadav, meanwhile, has firmly severed its links with SP.
Relations between Akhilesh Yadav and his uncle Shivpal seem to have deteriorated to a point of no return and with Mulayam Singh Yadav almost out of active politics, there are very slim chances of any rapprochement between the uncle and nephew.
"I have been betrayed and have learnt my lesson after paying a heavy price. I will now focus all my energy in strengthening my party organisation before the Lok Sabha polls," said Shivpal.
Sources close to him said that he had been receiving feelers from the Congress and 'if the deal is respectable', PSPL may align with the Congress for Lok Sabha elections.
The problem with the Congress is that there is no one in the state to address the evolving political situation. The party remains headless even after six months of its poll debacle and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra remains inaccessible to leaders - both, outside and within her own party.
Shivpal Yadav, according to sources, is also toying with the idea of a broader front with senior SP leader Mohd Azam Khan leading it.
Azam Khan, sources say, is not too comfortable with the Akhilesh-led SP but he is also wary of burning bridges right now.
"He will take a decision as the Lok Sabha elections draw closer," said a leader close to him.
Two other former SP allies -- Mahan Dal and Janwadi Party (Socialist)-- are not exactly averse to returning to the SP fold after announcing their exit earlier this year.
Mahan Dal's chief Keshav Dev Maurya and Janwadi Party (Socialist) chief Sanjay Chauhan had parted ways with the SP even before the SBSP and PSPL.
Both the parties have found no takers in the BJP.
"We are small parties and we need a big political party as an ally to perform well in elections. The benefit in such a scenario is mutual," said a leader of a small party on condition of anonymity.
A SP leader said, "With Rajbhar and Shivpal out, these parties see more space to grow within the alliance. Among the alliance partners, Akhilesh visibly gave SBSP far more importance than it deserved."
Udaiveer Singh, senior SP spokesman, said, "There are ways to discuss and sort out issues in an alliance. Constant badmouthing in public is detrimental to alliance spirit. We believe in upholding the alliance dharma."
—IANS