Maya to chair meet on 2017 polls today
LUCKNOW: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati will chair a meeting of party MPs, MLAs, MLCs, zonal coordinators, district presidents and probable candidates for the 2017 assembly election in UP and Uttarakhand. The meeting is scheduled on Thursday.
Mayawati will gear up the party leaders for the 2017 assembly election and review the organisation as well. The BSP leadership is elated over the victory of the candidates supported by it in the panchayat elections. The strategy for the gram pradhan and zila panchayat chairman elections will be also discussed in the meeting.
A senior party leader said though the BSP failed to open its account in the 2014 Lok Sabha election, its success in the panchayat election indicated that it had not lost ground at the grass root level.
The BSP polled 20% of the votes in the Lok Sabha election and 26% of the votes in 2012 assembly polls. The party was a force to reckon with and it was working to script its way back to power in the 2017 assembly elections, he said. Mayawati will also discuss a strategy to counter the BJP which is keen to make inroads into the BSP’s dalit vote bank. Several BSP leaders and office bearers have joined the BJP recently.
The BSP is also mulling over launching an agitation against what it calls “the anti- people policies of the state government and the central government.”
The BSP will try to corner the Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh by raising the demand for reservation in promotion as well as focusing on the alleged deterioration in the law and order situation.
The party will target the NDA government over price hike and increasing intolerance. Mayawati might hold a big rally in Lucknow in winter to galvanise the party cadre. The BSP has finalised its candidates for a majority of assembly seats in UP and Uttarakhand. Mayawati is gathering feedback about candidates from the zonal coordinators and district presidents.
“The candidates who are not in a position to win will be replaced,” said a party leader.