With nearly two years to go for the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, battle lines are already being drawn in this electorally-crucial state. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is crossing swords with the Congress and is seemingly moving closer to the BJP. While BSP is led by former Chief Minister Mayawati, the Congress general secretary in charge of UP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is the principal Congress challenger. The sharp exchanges between Mayawati and Priyanka in recent days are indicative of intense rivalry between them. Mayawati’s BSP had reached its peak with the rainbow coalition of Muslims-Dalits-Brahmins which was broadly the vote bank of the Congress, too. While the Muslims now prefer SP, the Brahmins are now largely with the BJP while the Dalit vote bank remains essentially with the BSP. Clearly, there are hints that caste loyalties are not sacrosanct and that they can shift.
The Congress is banking on Priyanka’s charisma to woo the Dalits but Mayawati reckons that in combination with BJP the BSP would manage to tilt the scales in their favour. There is intense rivalry between the parties and on its part, the BJP reckons that the alliance with BSP will give them the cutting edge. In recent years, the Muslims have deserted the BSP and any alliance with BJP will alienate them further. An added incentive for BSP to align with the BJP is the hope that the disproportionate assets cases against Mayawati would be soft-pedalled. All in all, an interesting battle-royale lies ahead in the country’s electorally most significant state.
