Samajwadi Party's Turmoil: A Look Back at the 2002 Assembly Elections

There is a lot of talk in Uttar Pradesh politics these days about a possible break-up of the Samajwadi Party. Leaders of the BJP and its allies are constantly claiming that everything is not well within the SP and big political developments can be seen in the coming time. There is speculation of MPs to MLAs leaving the party. Amid all these claims and discussions, an old chapter of state politics is also being discussed again. This story is from 23 years ago i.e. in the year 2003, when the Samajwadi Party won power by making a big dent in the Bahujan Samaj Party MLAs. Actually, no party got a clear majority in the 2002 assembly elections. The Samajwadi Party became the largest party with 143 seats, but was far from the majority mark. The BSP got 98 seats and the BJP got 88 seats. After the elections, the BJP and the BSP joined hands and Mayawati became the chief minister. However, this alliance did not last long. The differences between the two parties increased and Mulayam Singh Yadav finally resigned from the post of chief minister.