Hyderabad: Mayawati’s masterstroke in UP bypoll spoils the party in saffron baston. Bharatiya Janata Party loses the two key parliamentary seats in Uttar Pradesh — Gorakhpur and Phulpur — which were vacated by hardline Hindutva leader and Chief Minister Yogi Aditynath and his deputy Keshav Prasad Maurya after their entry into the Assembly in April, 2017.
The Samajwadi Party powered by Bahujan Samaj Party handed BJP a crushing defeat in Gorakhpur by 21916 votes and Phulpur Lok Sabha bypoll seat where Nagendra Pratap Singh Patel registered a resounding win over BJP’s Kaushlendra Singh Patel by a margin of 59,613 votes.
The bypoll results have proved that Mayawati remains a big force in Uttar Pradesh and her ability to transfer votes in favour of an ally can’t be questioned.
When Mayawati can bury 25-year-old ghost of rivalry with SP, it is the right time for all the opposition parties including BSP, SP, Congress and Ajit Singh’s Rashtriya Lok Dal to leave their egos apart and come on one platform to take on the saffron surge.
As the ‘united opposition’ formula worked in UP bypoll and if it continues then it is obvious to be optimistic to assume that this would guarantee a win win situation for them in 2019. The grand alliance will surely provide an effective challenge and can adversely affect NDA’s performance.
Gorakhpur Analysis
Gorakhpur has been held by Yogi Adityanath since 1998 – he was the youngest MP at 26 – and three times before that by his mentor Advaidyanath. In 2014, Yogi Adityanath had managed to jump on top with 530127 votes, grabbing 51% of the voters.
On the other hand Phulpur is also an extremely prominent Lok Sabha seat that the BJP had wrested only in 2014. It has been represented by Jawaharlal Nehru, his sister Vijayalakshmi Pandit and also former Prime Minister V P Singh. The Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya managed to grab the seat with 503564 votes securing a vote share of 52.43.
But Mayawati set a roadmap for Northern States to shift their strategies. With just one day to go for the campaigning in Gorakhpur and Phulpur parliamentary bypolls– directed party cadres to hold at least 100 ‘nukkad sabhas’ (street corner meetings) in support of the Samajwadi Party (SP) candidates.
For saffron party, religion and caste are their identities, they never treated Dalits like human beings. BJP, by building its own social coalitions, which excludes Muslims as well as Dalits can turn a big support base for opposition parties to eclipse the saffron surge.
If, we look at the analysis of 2017 Assembly elections, the huge split in votes of SP, BSP, INC directly benefited BJP. The SP and the BSP have also been pitting candidates against each other instead of attempting to defeat Yogi Adityanath together.
The mathematical advantage is certainly with a SP-BSP-INC-RLD coalition, which enjoyed a 52% vote share in 2017 assembly election.
Bihar Politics:
The past master in social engineering, Mayawati can play a vital role in Bihar politics too by forging an alliance with secular parties like Lalu’s RJD, Manjhi’s HAM.
The conviction of RJD Chief Lalu Prasad Yadav hints at all the secular parties to stay united or be prepared to find their homes in prisons.
Meanwhile, Lalu Prasad Yadav Bharat Ratna to Dalit leader Kanshi Ram and describe him as a great revolutionary on his birth anniversary. He described Kanshi Ram as ‘Mahan Krantikari’ (great revolutionary) and said that the unexpected alliance of the ‘Bahujan’ (BSP and Samajwadi Party) in bypolls to the two Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh that helped defeat “Manuvadi” and “divisive forces” is a real tribute to the Dalit leader on his birth anniversary.
महान क्रांतिकारी मान्यवर कांशीराम जी की जयंती पर कोटि-कोटि प्रणाम एवं शत्-शत् नमन। उनकी जयंती के अवसर पर बहुजनों के अभूतपूर्व गठबंधन ने मनुवादी और विभाजनकारी शक्तियों को परास्त कर एक सच्ची श्रद्धांजलि अर्पित की है।
मान्यवर कांशीराम जी को अविलंब भारत रत्न दिया जाए। #KanshiRam
— Lalu Prasad Yadav (@laluprasadrjd) March 15, 2018
A few months ago, Lalu Prasad had offered BSP supremo Mayawati a Rajya Sabha seat.
Siasat Web Team