Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday downplayed the break-up of the alliance between his party and that of Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), saying that “political roads are open for all”.

Addressing reporters a day after Mayawati formally announced the end of the alliance, Yadav said that his respect for the BSP supremo remains unshaken.

“Sometimes you don’t succeed in trials but you get to know about weaknesses. What I said for Mayawati-ji in first press conference, ‘Mera samman unka samman hoga’ (my respect will be her respect), I still say that. As far as gathbandhan or fighting elections alone is concerned, political roads are open for all,” Yadav, the former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, said.

“If we are contesting by-polls alone then I will discuss with all the leaders of the party that what should our future strategy be and work towards it,” he added.

Mayawati, on Tuesday, announced the split adding that her party will contest the Assembly by-elections in Uttar Pradesh on its own.

Mayawati said that the reason behind the breaking up of the alliance is that Yadav voters had not supported the alliance.

“In the results of Lok Sabha elections in UP, base vote of Samajwadi Party, the ‘Yadav’ community, didn’t support the party. Even strong contenders of SP were defeated,” Mayawati said.

But she added that the break-up with the SP “is not a permanent break”.

Later on Tuesday, speaking to mediapersons in Ghazipur, Yadav said that his party will contest alone on all 11 seats where by-elections will be held.

“If the coalition has broken, I will reflect deeply on it and if the coalition isn’t there in the by-elections, then Samajwadi Party will prepare for the elections. SP will also fight on all 11 seats alone,” Yadav told reporters.

Mayawati had, on Monday, held a closed-door review meeting with party leaders in Delhi.

BSP contested the Lok Sabha elections in an alliance with the SP and RLD. The alliance won a total of 15 seats, with the BSP winning 10 of the 38 it contested and SP winning five of the 37 it contested. RLD failed to win any of the three seats it contested.

Eleven Assembly seats were vacated because the sitting legislators were elected to the Lok Sabha. Of the 11, nine are from the BJP while one each is from the BSP and SP.