No Rahul Gandhi? Dr Subramanian Swamy believes a coalition between these three leaders can challenge BJP in 2019

BJP MP Dr Subramanian Swamy has shared what in his view is a coalition that can give the BJP a real challenge in 2019.

Taking to Twitter, Dr Swamy has issued that three political leaders, one of whom is currently lodged in prison, can combine to pose a real threat to the ruling party in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

The leaders Dr Subramanian Swamy has spoken about are West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee, former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati and late Tamil Nadu CM and AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa's aide Sasikala.

The Trinamool Congress had won 34 seats in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections -- 15 more than the election in 2019. It's voteshare was 3.8%. In the 2016 West Bengal Legislative Assembly elections the party had secured a massive 211 seats out of 294. Recently, Mamata Banerjee has been an ever-present in terms of fostering Opposition unity against the Modi government, especially when it comes to bringing together regional parties.

Meanwhile, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) secured the third-highest voteshare in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections with 4.2% but didn't win a single seat. In the 2017 Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, Mayawati's party was humbled once again, securing just 19 out of 403 seats with a voteshare of 22.23%. However, in recent bypolls, particularly in Gorakhpur and Phulpur, the Bahujan Samaj Party had proved that its votes are transferable as it assisted its once-rival Samajwadi Party win the seats previously held by UP CM Yogi Adityanath and Keshav Prasad Maurya.

As for Sasikala, while AIADMK had emerged as the third-largest party in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and won subsequent Tamil Nadu assembly elections as well, the party has fallen apart after Jayalalithaa passed away and while it is still in power with Edappadi K. Palaniswami at the helm, Sasikala and her nephew have been forced out after a split and ensuing power tussle in the party. While Sasikala's nephew TTV Dhinakaran has launched his own party and won the MLA seat held by Jayalalithaa, Sasikala is lodged in Bengaluru Central jail after being convicted in a disproportionate assets case.