Putting to rest all speculations over forming an alliance with National Democratic Alliance or INDIA bloc for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati on Wednesday announced that her party will be contesting the polls alone in 2024.

In a series of posts on X (formerly Twitter) a day before the two-day third INDIA bloc meeting at Mumbai, Mayawati said the BSP had been fighting against the policies of the constituents of both groupings.

The BSP chief on Wednesday said that the majority of parties in the NDA and INDIA alliance were against the interests of the disadvantaged sections of society and promoted caste divisions and communalism.

Taking to X, Mayawati said, “NDA and INDIA alliance comprise mostly of parties that are anti-poor, casteist, communal and pro-rich against whose policies the BSP has always fought. So, there is no question of contesting the election by forging an alliance with them.”

In a series of tweets in Hindi, the BSP chief further said that her party, like in 2007, would single-handedly contest the upcoming Lok Sabha and four state assembly elections by uniting crores of neglected people in society on the basis of mutual brotherhood rather than manipulation of the opponents. She warned that the media should not spread any misconceptions regarding this matter.

Mayawati, attacking the recently expelled  BSP leader Imran Masood, said, “The former MLA from Saharanpur is busy in praising the Congress and the top leaders of that party, due to which it is natural for people to question why he left this party first and then went to another party?”

Earlier on Tuesday, president of the BSP’s Saharanpur district unit, Janeshwar Prasad, released a statement noting that Masood, a former independent MLA, was cautioned several times regarding his engagement in “anti-party activities and indiscipline”. He said despite these warnings, Masood’s behaviour remained unchanged, ultimately leading to his expulsion from the party.

Imran Masood, a prominent Muslim leader from Saharanpur district, was absent from a gathering of BSP leaders and office-bearers led by party chief Mayawati in Lucknow on August 23. Notably, he drew attention in recent times for lauding Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.

In March 2014, he was taken into custody due to hate speech allegations, stemming from his threat to “cut to pieces” Narendra Modi, the prime ministerial candidate of the Bharatiya Janata Party contesting election from Varanasi. At the time, Masood was running as a Congress candidate from Saharanpur for the Lok Sabha election, and this comment was made during his campaign. Immediately preceding the assembly elections in the previous year, Imran Masood became a member of the Samajwadi Party and subsequently shifted his affiliation to the BSP.

The BSP said in its release that when Masood joined the party, he was clearly told that he would be given a ticket for Lok Sabha from Saharanpur only after an assessment of his work.