Maya builds Delhi dream on regional pacts
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati is tapping regional political entities for potential electoral tie-ups outside her home state of Uttar Pradesh that could help her emerge as a strong contender for the prime minister’s post in the event of next year’s election throwing up a hung Parliament, two leaders privy to the matter said.
Mayawati has a pact with JD(S) in Karnataka and the INLD in Haryana, and she recently discussed a tie-up with former chief minister Ajit Jogi’s Chhattisgarh Janta Congress in the tribal-dominated state.
“She is also keen to have a pact with Jagan Mohan Reddy of the YSR Congress in Andhra Pradesh,” a BSP leader, one of the two cited above, said.
A pact with the SP in Uttar Pradesh, which led to the BJP’s defeat in by-poll to three key Lok Sabha seats , and SP leader Akhilesh Yadav’s undeclared support for her 2019 electoral ambitions have emboldened the Dalit leader to look for tie-ups outside the state, said the second leader.
The BSP fielded candidates in 503 Lok Sabha seats in 2014, polled 23 million votes with a share of 4.2%, but could not win a single seat. It polled 19.8% votes in UP, 4.8% in Uttarakhand, 4.6% in Haryana, 3.9% in Madhya Pradesh, 2.6% in Maharashtra, 2.4% in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh each, and 1.9% in Punjab and 1.2% in Delhi. “These votes outside UP go waste,” the BSP leader said. “We want to stitch up alliances that also bring us seats from outside Uttar Pradesh.”
The AIADMK emerged as the third largest party – after the BJP and the Congress – with 37 seats in the 2014 Lok Sabha election, and Mayawati could be eyeing that position in 2019, the second leader said. The Congress has reached out to her for a pact in Madhya Pradesh, but remains non-committal in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. All three states head to elections later this year.
The BSP leader said exploring an alliance with regional parties does not mean the doors are closed on Congress. “We want a relationship that benefits us too,” he said.
Political expert Badri Narayan sees Mayawati already positioning herself for a role in Delhi. “She is a hard bargainer,” said Narayan, a professor at the Allahabad-based Govind Ballabh Pant Social Science Institute. “While her chances of winning increase in alliance with the Congress, a pact with regional parties allows her greater share in seat distribution.”
Narayan cited the example of Karnataka, where the JD(S) had a pre-poll pact with the BSP. After the May elections , from which the BJP emerged as the single largest party in the state but without the numbers required to form a government, the Congress and the JD (S) quickly stitched up an alliance. The Congress agreed to HD Kumaraswamy of the JD (S) becoming chief minister.
“Election after elections have proved that Congress is getting irrelevant,” said, Amit Jogi, the legislator-son of Ajit Jogi. “Karnataka and UP have shown us only regional parties can take on the BJP. We need to move in that direction.”
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