New Delhi, March 17
The Bahujan Samaj Party’s first list of 205 Lok Sabha candidates released today held out an unambiguous message for the Congress, the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
BSP chief Mayawati made it clear that an alliance with the Congress is no longer an option as she proceeded to name 75 candidates for the 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh. The list, which contains 17 Muslims, 44 OBCs and Scheduled Castes and 14 upper castes, appears to be a deliberate exercise in eroding the Muslim-OBC support base of the Samajwadi Party.
Unlike the last time when the BSP fielded a large number of Brahmins and Thakurs, this time round a huge share of tickets have gone to OBCs and Most Backward Classes (MBCs), including Yadavs. Similarly, the BSP has ensured a division in the minority votes by fielding Muslim candidates in the Muslim-dominated Western UP belt.
On the other hand, the list should bring some cheer to the BJP as Ms. Mayawati is fielding such candidates which would give it an edge in several constituencies. For instance, she has fielded a Muslim candidate from Lakhimpur Kheri, which would consolidate the Hindu vote and thus help BJP leader Vinay Katiyar, who is being fielded from here. Similarly, she has named Akbar Ahmed Dumpy, who recently left the Congress, for the Bairelly seat, which will again work to BJP’s advantage.
However, the BSP chief remained non-committal about her post-poll options. Ms Mayawati admitted she would go in for a post-poll alliance but refused to name her preferred choice. “It is incorrect to say that I will join hands with the BJP after the elections. But I will decide on my choice of party keeping in view the interests of the Bahujan Samaj and after consultations with my party colleagues,” she told presspersons after the release of her list and the party manifesto, her first since the party was founded.
Significantly, the BSP did not name a candidate for the Lucknow seat but announced a Brahmin candidate for Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s constituency Amethi and a Muslim from Sambhal, SP leader Mulayam Singh Yadav’s seat. Both choices are designed to weaken the support base of the respective parties.
Besides Lucknow, the BSP is yet to announce party candidates for her own seat Akbarpur, Bahraich, Hapur and Agra.
Reiterating that an alliance with the Congress was now a closed chapter,
Ms Mayawati admitted that she did consider such a possibility but decided against it as the Congress showed no signs of withdrawing support to the SP-led government in Uttar Pradesh which was formed with the tacit cooperation of the BJP.
In fact, she said she had actually advised the Congress not to help in the formation of the Mulayam Singh Yadav government. “You cannot sail in two boats and this is what the Congress was trying to do,” Ms. Mayawati declared angrily, adding that she waited till March 12 but since the Congress did not withdraw its support, she announced her decision to go alone the following day. Stating it was too late for a rethink,
Ms Mayawati said the BSP would be contesting a total of 325 Lok Sabha seats.
