Rattled by poll rout, BSP chief opens party horizons to alliance

ing on the basis of his development projects. The bottomline was: Neither the SP nor the BSP wanted to compromise on the issue of chief ministership.

The grand alliance plan was shelved because it would have required both the SP and the BSP to come aboard. The resultant alliance stitched between the SP and the Congress was too weak to counter a resurgent BJP.

However, the winds of change are blowing now. Rattled by her defeat in the 2017 polls, Mayawati has indicated her willingness to join an anti-bjp front for the first time, even if it’s only on the issue of EVM hacking. This could, however, expand to the presidential elections and the 2019 Lok Sabha election in the days to come.

Neither the SP nor the BSP will be a claimant to the PM’S chair in the general elections and thus no clash of interest. However, an improved performance can perk up their political fortunes by 2022, when the state goes to the polls again. “The Opposition cannot remain in limbo, waiting for Yogi Adityanath to trip on some front. They have to mobilise and consolidate anti-bjp votes,” says political analyst Dr Badri Narayan.

So, what are the options before the BSP, which has now plunged to its early 1990 position? Just as Kanshi Ram had weakened the BJP to gain power in the state Amit Shah broke into the BSP’S vote bank of marginalised castes to win 2017 polls. She now needs to reconsolidate her vote bank.

Though Kanshi Ram often described the BJP as ‘saanpnath’ Mayawati had no qualms in ally ing with the saffron party on three occasions to grab power However, in the current scenario any association with the BJP wil be detrimental to the BSP’S health. Mayawati has no option but to come to an understanding with the SP and the Congress.

This is not the first time the SP and the BSP will be coming together (if it happens). They had tried it in 1993, but the experiment failed primarily due to the socia and political incompatibility of Yadav and Jatav castes they rep resent. They have two clash points: First, Yadavs – the new elite in rural areas – are accused of forcibly acquiring the land of Dalits, and second, both are polit ically rising communities that have tasted power at one point of time or another.