Maya ‘ready for’ an anti-bjp front
Having faced a humiliating defeat in the 2017 UP polls, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Friday said she was willing to be part of a larger antibjp front.
“To keep democracy alive, I am ready to be part of an anti-bjp front. We have to cut poison with poison. Due to tampering of EVMS, the voters won’t be able to elect their favourite leaders. The anti-bjp front is necessary to make sure that popular candidates who have mass support win elections,” she said amid applause from party workers.
Mayawati also announced that her brother Anand Kumar would be the vice-president of the party.
“He resides in Delhi and will handle the party work. As national vice-president, he will be empowered to dispose of the party documents and represent the party in the meetings held by Election Commission,” she said.
Mayawati made the announcement while addressing the cadre during the Ambedkar birth anniversary function at Lucknow’s Ambedkar Memorial.
Her announcement assumes significance as it could pave way for the formation of a larger front to stop the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections when Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeks a second term.
During the run-up to UP polls, Mayawati had consistently rejected suggestions of being a part of a larger anti-bjp front on the lines of the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ or Grand alliance in Bihar where BJP got defeated.
“The leaders of the saffron brigade are trying to misguide people by stating that they will protect UP from becoming another Pakistan. I also assure the supporters that BSP will ensure that UP does not turn into Pakistan,” said Mayawati.
Soon after his party was routed in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, a worried Nitish Kumar drove down to the residence of his arch-rival — RJD leader Lalu Yadav — and said: “We will be finished if we don’t take immediate steps to check the BJP in Bihar.”
The move gave rise to the Grand Alliance, which turned the tables on the BJP in the 2015 Vidhan Sabha polls. Nitish and Lalu sank their age-old animosity to remain politically relevant. Their alliance also brought together two politically incompatible castes — Yadavs and Kurmis.
A similar grand alliance was conceived for Uttar Pradesh ahead of the 2017 polls, but it found no takers despite the decimation of the secular forces in 2014. Mayawati rode high in the assumption that she was the single claimant of the anti-incumbency vote, while Akhilesh Yadav was confident of triumph-