Lucknow, Jun 20: The ‘PDA’ formula suggested by Akhilesh Yadav to defeat the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in next year's Lok Sabha polls actually stands for ‘parivaar, dal, alliance’ (family, party, and alliance), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) national president Mayawati said on Monday, attacking her Samajwadi Party (SP) counterpart.

 

 

 

“The PDA proposed by the SP to take on the NDA (BJP-led National Democratic Alliance) is nothing more than a rhyme in these most difficult times for them,” the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said in a tweet, referring to the ‘Pichchde, Dalit, and Alpasankhyak’ (backward classes, Dalits, and minorities) people Akhilesh Yadav spoke about at a television news channel's conclave.

 

 

 

“People from these classes must, therefore, remain vigilant,” she added. Yadav's ‘PDA’ remark came ahead of the mega opposition meet that will take place on June 23 in Bihar's capital Patna. While the SP is among the participants, the BSP has not been invited due to its alleged proximity to the ruling party. For the 2019 general elections, too, the two former CMs and their arch-rival parties had teamed up to take on the PM Modi-led BJP in the country's most populous state, which sends 80 members – higher than any other state/UT (Maharashtra, with 48 seats, is a distant second) – to the 543-seat Lok Sabha. The alliance, while deemed ‘formidable’ by psephologists, failed to stop the saffron party as the latter won 62 seats, a drop, however, from its 2014 tally of 71. Eventually, the BJP retained power at the Centre with a bigger individual majority than the one it got in 2014.

 

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The veteran politician, meanwhile, also took on the BJP-led Uttar Pradesh government over heatstroke-related deaths in the state, particularly in Ballia. The administration, she said, must immediately improve its electricity supply system, and must not cut power to installations such as hospitals.