By Rahil Nora Chopra
There
is no doubt that SP and BSP know the strength of unity, but what forced the
issue of alliance for the Lok Sabha elections is a sense of weakness by both
parties over erosion in their ranks. Mayawati could not have easily overcome
the trauma of failing to open its account in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and
the humiliating defeat in the 2017 assembly election. The revolt by senior
leader Nasimuddin Siddiqui, the Muslim face of BSP, dealt a serious blow, which
may have weighed heavily in Mayawati’s mind to forge an alliance with Akhilesh
Yadav. At the same time, pressure has been building up on the SP leadership
over the revolt of Shivpal Yadav, who launched his own party Pragatisheel
Samajwadi Party (Lohia), weakening SP in many parts of Uttar Pradesh,
especially Akhilesh’s home ground Etawah, Firozabad, Etah, Mainpuri and Kanuj.
Under these circumstances, the SP chief had no option but to join hands with
Mayawati to defeat BJP.
The BSP and the SP have come
together to fight BJP, but their inherent differences may force them to take
divergent stands post poll. A common vote bank, coupled with personal ambitions
and rising aspirations of party men, may become the cause of conflict even if
the two leaders decided to take the alliance forward after the election. Much
will depend on the performance of the alliance. The BSP has a strong support
base among Dalits and the SP has a strong base among the backward castes. Both
need the support of Muslims and other castes as the two parties have a common
vote bank. And both leaders also have their personal ambitions, setting up a
conflict. While Mayawati has been described as unpredictable, Akhilesh is known
not to make any compromise when it comes to issues concerning Muslims and
certain backward castes.
AGP ENDING UP IN
CONGRESS CAMP
Following a similar course as
Chandra Babu Naidu and Upendra Kushwaha, who left NDA to join hands with
Congress, the Asom Gana Parishad may also end up in the Congress camp. Congress
and the regionalist AGP, once a political giant, have been bitter foes but the
citizenship bill has forced both parties to come together. Assam Congress unit
chief Ripon Bora has said that he does not rule out a political understanding
in the future. According to Bora, a Rajya Sabha MP, politics is dictated by the
compulsions of the situation and that is in favour of both parties working
together. According to AGP leader Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, a former chief
minister and the architect of the1985 Assam Accord, all future course of action
will be decided by the party’s central committee, an early meeting of which he
has demanded.
LOSING BJP CMs
MOVED OUT TO MAKE WAY
After appointing former chief
ministers of Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Rajasthan as vice presidents, the
BJP leadership plans to entrust the party’s state units to the leader of
opposition in the respective states. The party leadership has proposed to Vasundhara
Raje to fight the Lok Sabha election from Jhalawar from where her son Dushyant
Singh is currently a member of Lok Sabha. The leadership now wants him to
contest in the Jhalrapatan assembly seat. The central leadership called a
meeting of newly elected MLAs of Rajasthan in Jaipur and made Gulab Chand
Kataria as the leader of opposition and seven time MLA Rajendra Rathore was
chosen as his deputy. Vasundhara has prevailed over the leadership to have her
nominee as the leader of opposition. (IPA)
The post SP, BSP Form Alliance To Overcome Weakness appeared first on Newspack by India Press Agency.
