Mamata welcomes BSP-SP alliance in UP

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Saturday welcomed the BSP-SP alliance in Uttar Pradesh for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

"I welcome the alliance of the SP and the BSP for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections," Banerjee tweeted.

Arch rivals for over 25 years, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Samajwadi Party (SP) announced earlier in the day that they would contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls together in Uttar Pradesh, sharing 38 seats each of the 80 in the state, while leaving Rae Bareli and Amethi for the Congress, which has been kept out of the alliance.

Banerjee who has been advocating for an opposition alliance to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), had earlier suggested the alliance in the northern state.

BSP supremo Mayawati described the alliance as a "new political revolution" taken in the national interest to stop the BJP from coming to power again.

On his part, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav hinted at supporting Mayawati as a Prime Ministerial candidate.