20 May,2019 03:06 PM IST | | mid-day online desk
Mamata Banerjee and Akhilesh Yadav. Pic/ANI
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav met with his alliance partner, BSP chief Mayawati here on Monday against the backdrop of exit poll predictions projecting a none-too-rosy picture for the grand alliance in Uttar Pradesh.
The meeting between them took place at BSP supremo's Mall Avenue residence. After the meeting, Yadav refused to speak to media.
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"Not now, if I will have to speak, I will speak later," said former UP CM to media persons seeking his comments on the exit poll predictions and the meeting with his alliance partner.
Both Akhilesh and Mayawati have made no comments so far on the exit-poll predictions.
Talking briefly to reporters after the meeting, Akhilesh said: "We will talk after the results on May 23. I maintain my stand that we are winning 56 seats in UP."
Sources said that the two leaders also decided that they would hold talks with other opposition leaders on May 24, when all results are finally out.
"They will have telephonic talks with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Chief Sharad Pawar on May 23 and with other leaders, including those of the Congress on May 24," said a source.
The hour-long meeting was held at the BSP chief's Mall Avenue residence here.
The two leaders made a seat-to-seat assessment but decided to wait for the results rather than speculate on the exit poll results.
With the seven-phased elections coming to an end yesterday, all eyes are on the counting of votes for 542 Lok Sabha constituencies on May 23.
Several exit polls on television channels have projected that the BJP-led NDA will retain power at the Centre with most pollsters giving Modi a clear majority again in the 543-member Lok Sabha.
The opposition, however, has rejected the exit polls and questioned their authenticity.
Predictions for the SP-BSP-RLD alliance varied from good to very poor by different pollsters.
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Edited by mid-day online desk with inputs from Agencies