Kairana, Delhi, UP: Is the BSP-SP deal done?
NEW DELHI: The Bahujan Samaj Party plans to contest the by-election for the Kairana Lok Sabha seat to test viability of a possible alliance with the Samajwadi Party in next year’s parliamentary election, a BSP leader familiar with the matter said, asking not to be identified. The outcome could set the stage for an alliance where the BSP takes a bigger role in New Delhi and the SP in Lucknow, the person added.
Buzz of a larger alliance between the two parties has increased following their partnership in recent bypolls for two Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh defeated the ruling BJP. Subsequently, the two parties decided to participate in the birth and death programmes of their respective icons. On Tuesday, a SP leader in Gorakhpur, Mohsin Khan, said BSP chief Mayawati should be PM. BSP and SP leaders did not respond to calls and text messages seeking comment.
Mayawati, the BSP leader said, discussed the partnership with SP president Akhilesh Yadav during a meeting on March 14. Yadav thanked Mayawati for the BSP’s support to SP in the Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha bypolls where the combine handed a crushing defeat to the BJP.
“The two by-elections showed that the BSP can transfer its votes to SP candidates. Before entering into a formal pact for the next Parliamentary election, we need to be sure that the SP can seamlessly transfer its votes to the BSP candidate,” the leader added. “The by-election in Kairana is that opportunity for the BSP.”
The BSP usually doesn’t contest by-elections but the BSP leader said Kairana could be an exception given Mayawati’s desperate bid to revive the party’s fortunes after defeats in the parliamentary and assembly elections over the past three years.
The BSP could not win a single Lok Sabha seat in 2014 and won only 19 out of 403 it contested in the 2017 assembly election. The Kairana seat fell vacant after the death of BJP MP Hukum Singh in February.
A second BSP leader claimed that if an alliance does go through, the BSP may get to contest more Lok Sabha seats than the SP. In return, the SP may contest more seats in the state elections in 2022. That seems too-long a time-frame for a fledgling alliance-in-the-making between two parties that have traditionally been rivals, say analysts. Badri Narayan, a political commentator and author, said, “If you see it from the perspective of political interest, it is a compulsion for both BSP and SP to stay together till at least 2019, and maybe even 2022. If they don’t stick together, they will not be able to regain relevance at either the national or state level.”
The BSP considers Kairana a safe bet. The Kairana Lok Sabha seat includes five assembly segments of the Saharanpur district and is populated by Muslim, Gujjars, Dalits and Jats. Hukum Singh polled 5.65 lakh votes in 2014, compared to SP’s tally of 3.30 lakh votes and BSP’s 1.60 lakh votes. While BJP’s candidate was a Gujjar, the SP and the BSP fielded Muslims in a communally charged contest. The BJP retained its hold over five assembly segments – Nakur, Gangoh, Kairana, Thana Bhawan and Shamli – of Kairana Lok Sabha seat in the 2017 assembly election, but the BSP improved its tally. The BJP polled total 4.33 lakh votes in these segments, and the BSP improved its tally to 2.08 lakh votes. The SP fielded candidates in 3 out of 5 seats and polled 1.60 lakh votes. Akhilesh supported the Congress in Nakur and Shamli.