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New Delhi, Delhi, India
Ahead of the crucial joint press conference by Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati, photographs of both the leaders in the same poster have sprung up in Lucknow.
Besides Akhilesh and Mayawati, the posters also feature senior leaders like BSP All India General Secretary Satish Chandra Misra and SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav, with a slogan humara kaam bolta hai and Bhajpa ka jhoot bolta hai (Our work speaks, BJP`s lie speaks).
SP and BSP have been in talks for weeks in order to forge an alliance for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in 2019. A meeting between the two leaders recently had triggered a lot of speculation about seat-sharing being firmed up.
SP-BSP posters and party flags seen in Lucknow. Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati will jointly address the media later today pic.twitter.com/bfxRUVMJcx
— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) January 12, 2019
The two parties are likely to announce an alliance ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls in the presser today.
Earlier, senior SP leader Prof Ram Gopal Yadav had said: "Mayawati and Akhilesh will decide with whom the `grand alliance` has to be formed in Uttar Pradesh," he said.
"Everyone knows that there is going to be a grand alliance. In Uttar Pradesh, SP and BSP are the most important parties," he added.
Among all the states, Uttar Pradesh has the maximum number of 80 Lok Sabha seats out the 543 and plays a crucial role in government formation in the Centre.
(With agency inputs)