Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is all set to contest the Lok Sabha elections in all the 48 constituencies on its own.
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is all set to contest the Lok Sabha elections in all the 48 constituencies on its own, unlike the other major parties in the state that are busy cobbling up alliances.
With the poll cry: ‘Pehle girao, phir chun ke lao’ (First topple, then get elected), the BSP is looking to open its account in Maharashtra this time around. In 2004, Mayawati’s party had contested 46 seats in the state but drew a blank, though it picked up 8% of the votes cast in the state and about 11% in Vidarbha. Over the last five years, the party has strengthened its base of workers and supporters.
Political observers say the ‘elephant’ (the BSPs’ symbol) may not win any seat in Maharashtra but its presence in the field will affect all the other parties. The party support base has grown beyond its Dalit base, and this could help the party, particularly in Vidarbha, North Maharashtra, Thane, and the parts of Mumbai where Dalits are in large numbers.
The party’s state vice president, Suresh Sakhare, is confident of a good show. “We were short of cadres last time. That’s not the case now. We have the sector and booth level workers in place and we’ll get the results in the coming elections.”
The party has a presence in every panchayat and workers in place for every booth, considered crucial for poll management. The BSP has appointed seven to 10 workers from diverse caste backgrounds to each booth. A parliamentary constituency has, on an average, 1800 booths.
In the last four years, the BSP has embraced leaders of different castes and creed, who were sidelined in other political parties.
The party has decided to field its Brahmin face in the state, Mahant Sudhirdas Pujari, from Nashik, in addition to two Brahmins, one from Pune and the other from either Mumbai or Thane.
“We are reaching out to both the upper castes and OBCs through the Mahant,” said a party functionary. Suhdirdas holds considerable clout among the Brahmins in the state and is member of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s Akhil Bharatiya Margadarshak Mandal.
The priest will be campaigning for the party across the state as part of a well-thought out strategy to propagate what BSP chief Mayawati Behenji did for Brahmins and other communities in Uttar Pradesh. The BSP hopes its social engineering formula works here too.
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