BSP leaders believe that their vote share increases in polls when BJP is in power
Is BSP (Bahujan Samaj Party) considering an alliance with Congress in Rajasthan? The rationale behind the thinking is election arithmetic as BSP leaders believe that their vote share increases in the elections when the BJP is in power.
Their vote share dips drastically when they contested against ruling Congress. Moreover Congress already announced to ally with like-minded parties in the elections. Since 1998, the BSP has been contesting elections in Rajasthan and securing seats in single digit. It has secured two seats in 1998, six in 2003 and three in 2008 and 2013 assembly elections respectively. Interestingly, when the party fights election at the time when the BJP is facing anti-incumbency its vote share shoots to almost doubled.
In 2008 when the first term of CM Vasundhara Raje ended, the party secured 7.6 percent vote which was almost twice to 3.98 percent when it fought against Gehlot government in 2003. In 2013 assembly election the history repeated itself as BSP's vote share dipped to 3.44 percent in the Gehlot-led Congress government.
The party leaders say their poll prospective improves when the the BJP is facing anti-incumbency wave. This time as BJP is in power, the BSP should go for a pre-poll alliance with Congress which prevent split in Scheduled Caste votes which traditionally go to Congress, they said.
At the same time, a group within the party is against the alliance accusing Congress of ending its representation in the assembly. Post the 2008 assembly election, six BSP MLAs joined Congress and helped Ashok Gehlot form the government as the Congress was three short of the majority. Of them, Ramesh Meena and Girriraj Singh Malinga are sitting MLAs from Congress while Rajkumar Sharma as an independent.
Meanwhile, the Congress is adopting wait and watch policy. In Madhya Pradesh, a pre-poll alliance pact between Congress and BSP was rejected by the BSP leadership on Monday.
The party leadership in Rajasthan maintained no alliance with Congress and claimed to contest all 200 assembly seats across the state. The BSP state in-charge Dharamveer Ashok refused any possibility of alliance with Congress in Rajasthan. "There is no chances of alliance with Congress. We will fight all 200 seats and perform well. In Madhya Pradesh, we have also rejected alliance with Congress," said Ashok.
Past Perfect
After the 2008 Assembly polls, six Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLAs had joined the Congress and helped Ashok Gehlot form government in Rajasthan, as the Congress was three short of majority.
Of the six MLAs, Ramesh Meena and Giriraj Singh Malinga are sitting MLAs from the Congress while Rajkumar Sharma is an independent MLA.
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