Mayawati: India leader ends 'grand alliance' after election rout

Indian politician Mayawati has ended her party's much-talked about alliance with a rival party after their rout in the recent general election.

Her Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) tied up with the Samajwadi Party (SP) to contest the 80 seats in the bellwether state of Uttar Pradesh in the north.

They won just 15, while the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 62.

Ms Mayawati said BSP will fight upcoming by-elections alone, but did not rule out an alliance in the future.

“It is not a permanent break,” she told reporters on Tuesday.

The alliance, which was stitched together ahead of the election, made national headlines because Ms Mayawati and SP founder Malayalam Singh Yadav have long been at loggerheads.

Ms Mayawati, an iconic Dalit (formerly known as untouchable) leader, was instrumental in galvanising the lower caste vote, which helped her become chief minister of Uttar Pradesh four times.

The state is India's most politically crucial - it sends the highest number of MPs to parliament.

The coalition of two regional heavyweights was widely expected to hurt the BJP.

But post-election analysis has shown that the alliance performed poorly - and the SP especially so, with key leaders failing to win seats.