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Who gains from BSP’s low-key campaign for 2022 UP assembly election? | India News

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NEW DELHI: All big and small political parties have switched over to the active campaign mode for the Uttar Pradesh (UP) assembly election likely to be held in February-March. However, one party which appears conspicuous by its absence in the electoral canvassing arena is Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). As a result of this, both the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the principal opposition Samajwadi Party (SP) are wooing the BSP votes.
The BJP was the first one to sound the bugle for the upcoming state polls in UP. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath have been inaugurating and laying down foundation stones for several developmental and infrastructure projects in the state for several months now.
SP president Akhilesh Yadav launched his ‘Vijay Rath Yatra’ from Ghazipur on November 17. Since then, he has been busy visiting different assembly constituencies and holding public rallies.
The Congress, which has been a distant fourth in all the assembly and Lok Sabha elections held in the 21st century so far, also seems to have pressed the panic button. Party general secretary in-charge of the state Priyanka Gandhi Vadra too has been consistently active of late in the state politics.
Even presidents of smaller parties such as OP Rajbhar of Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) and Jayant Chaudhary of Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), who have joined hands with Akhilesh Yadav, are busy holding rallies in their respective areas of influence.
But Mayawati, the four-time chief minister of UP, seems to be missing in action. Her conspicuous absence is leading to murmurs in political circles.
The BSP supremo is yet to sound the election bugle on behalf of her party. She was last seen while she had addressed a press conference at the party office in Lucknow on December 23.
Asked about Mayawati’s low-key involvement ahead of the assembly election, BSP general secretary Satish Chandra Misra told TOI that she has addressed two public rallies recently – one on September 7 and the other on October 9.
“Behenji (as Mayawati is popularly addressed) is working 18 hours a day. She is monitoring the party work right from the top to the booth level,” said Misra, who has been holding public rallies since July and has visited every district of the state.

The BJP has generally been appeasing the Dalits – considered to be strong supporters of Mayawati – at the national level even before the 2014 Lok Sabha election. But due to the perceived void created by BSP in UP, SP of late has also started wooing the people of the Scheduled Caste (SC) community, most of whom are known to be avid followers of the architect of India’s Constitution, BR Ambedkar.

How 4 main political parties have performed in Uttar Pradesh2

Addressing a public rally in Unnao on December 28, Akhilesh Yadav exhorted the Samajwadis and Ambedkarwadis to come together to “throw away” the Yogi Adityanath government in UP.
“The BJP’s promises are fake. Before they came to power, they had promised not to sell any government property. However, after coming to power, their government has sold airplanes, hangars, ships, trains and railway stations. From a ‘feku’ government, it has become a ‘bechu’ government. Baba Ambedkar’s dreams will not get fulfilled if all is sold. Therefore, the Samajwadis and the Amberkarwadis should come together to dislodge the ‘saand’ (bull) government in UP,” Akhilesh Yadav said.
Basically, both BJP and SP are eyeing the 22-23 per cent vote base of BSP to better their chances. SP had won the 2012 UP assembly election by eating into the BSP votes. The BJP was victorious in 2017 by snatching away the votes of both BSP and SP.
Mayawati had come to power with a majority in the 2007 assembly election by winning 206 of the 403 seats and garnering 30.43 per cent of the votes polled.
Akhilesh defeated her in 2012 assembly election by winning 224 seats and polling 29.13 per cent votes. The BSP’s vote share came down to 25.91 per cent and seats to 80.
The BJP ate into the votes of both SP and BSP in 2017. While the BJP won 312 seats and garnered 39.67 per cent votes, SP’s vote share came down to 21.82 per cent and that of BSP slid to 22.23 per cent.
In the 2014 Lok Sabha election, the BJP damaged the BSP more than SP. The BJP’s vote share in UP in the 2009 Lok Sabha election was just 17.5 per cent while that of BSP was 27.42 per cent and that of SP was 23.26 per cent.
But in the 2014 general election, the BJP’s vote share jumped to 42.63 per cent while, in contrast, BSP’s vote share shrunk to 19.77 per cent and that of SP to 22.35 per cent.
With BSP’s poor visibility on the ground, both BJP and SP are eyeing at securing their prospects by poaching Mayawati’s vote bank.

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