Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh may be nearly two years away, but a series of crucial decisions the Dalit leader has taken indicates she is already in election mode.
Mayawati is out to overhaul the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).
Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh (UP) may be nearly two years away, but a series of crucial decisions the Dalit leader has taken indicates she is already in election mode.
There has also been a persistent buzz in party circles that the BSP chief can call for elections earlier than scheduled to stump the opposition and build up sympathy.
The chief minister has taken her own party leadership by surprise by announcing organisational changes it had no inkling of.
One major decision which surprised many is suspension of a state-wide agitation against the Centre, leading to speculation that Mayawati is extending an olive branch to the Congress.
At the organisational level, she has divided the state into six sectors instead of following the administrative format which has 13 divisions. Each sector will have two presidents and two vice-presidents. While the vice-presidents would be from the scheduled caste, the presidents would belong to the castes prominent in the respective areas.
She has made it clear that BSP is banking on a strong Dalit-Muslim-Brahmin combo to see it through in the next election. BSP’s Rajya Sabha MP Satish Chandra Mishra — the party’s Brahmin face — has been entrusted with the responsibility of crystallising the upper caste votebank once again. Mayawati’s close confidant and cabinet minister Naseemuddin Siddiqui has likewise been asked to keep minorities on BSP’s side.
Party sources say the overhaul of the party organisation 2 years before polls is a strong indication that Mayawati is planning early elections.
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