THE EMERGING SHAPE OF AN OPPOSITION ALLIANCE

m Prakash Rajbhar, chief of the Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP), a regional outfit in Uttar Pradesh with four seats in the 403-member state assembly, tweeted a photograph on October 20 of his meeting with Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav. The image was captioned BJP saaf (This time the BJP will be routed)’. Rajbhar had just days ago held inconclusive seat-sharing talks with the BJP, a former ally. Speculation on which way he would go was put to rest on October 27 when Akhilesh turned up as chief guest at the SBSP foundation day rally in Mau district. “The red cap of the SP and yellow cap of the SBSP are now one,” he said. Poking the BJP, he added: “If the West Bengal election was then the people of Purvanchal (drive out the BJP)’.”