After JD (U) rider, Cong-BSP pact buzz appears to fizzle out in Uttar Pradesh
Reacting to UP Congress chief Ajay Rai’s appeal to BSP chief Mayawati to join the Congress-led opposition alliance and its subsequent endorsement by a BSP lawmaker, JD (U) veteran KC Tyagi said no deal was possible without Congress taking Samajwadi Party into confidence
After briefly kindling interest, the buzz about Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)’s possible entry into INDIA alliance appears to be fizzling out with Janata Dal (United), a key player of the opposition coterie, making it clear that before probing any such pact, the Congress should take the Samajwadi Party (SP), the leading opposition in Uttar Pradesh, into confidence. “No pact is possible by alienating the Samajwadi Party,” JD (U) veteran KC Tyagi told HT over phone.
Approached by HT to check if efforts to bring BSP chief Mayawati to reconsider her stance of staying neutral in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls were bearing fruit, especially after UP Congress’s state chief Ajay Rai’s appeal to her to consider an alliance, Tyagi said, “All are welcome but not at the cost of antagonising the existing parties already committed to fighting against the BJP in 2024 Lok Sabha polls.”
“It is strange that the Congress appears to be interested in an alliance with the BSP but is unwilling to take the SP in confidence on the subject. That is why I said that no alliance with BSP is possible by alienating the SP,” Tyagi said. Javed Ali, the SP’s Rajya Sabha MP and his party’s representative in the opposition coordination committee, admitted that his party was not aligned with the idea of the BSP in the opposition bloc.
“I think this has been made very clear by our leadership and for good reasons,” he said. Political experts believe that with the SP reiterating their stand of not being part of any alliance of which the BSP is a part, the buzz that gained ground after UP Congress chief Ajay Rai’s appeal to Mayawati and its subsequent endorsement by BSP MP Shyam Yadav has virtually fizzled out.
Rai himself, currently leading his party’s UP Jodo Yatra, now appeared unsure if any alliance was possible. “I had merely stated a desire of many people about the need for a united front against the BJP. That is why I said so. Now, whether such an alliance is in the works or not can’t be decided at my level,” the UPCC chief said when informed about JD (U)’s stance. Experts admit that Rai’s offer to the BSP had its own merits as both parties, whose political fortunes have been on the decline in UP, could make an impression in a joint front.
In 2007, Mayawati won 206 of the 403 assembly seats to come to power in the most populous state with 36.7 per cent vote share. Barely 15 years later, the BSP suffered its worst ever defeat winning just one seat in 2022 U.P. polls as its vote share plummeted to 12.7 percent in a state where Dalits make up for 20 percent voters, nearly half of them from Mayawati’s Jatav subcaste.
The Congress that steadily lost ground to regional parties since 1989, when it last held power in state, too, has touched rock bottom with its vote share that was pegged at 6.25 per cent in 2017 U.P. polls further declining to 2.35 per cent in 2022 UP polls.
“The BSP aligning with the opposition bloc should suit the Congress and other opposition. But, the problem with opposition alliance is that there are too many inner contradictions at play. So, while theoretically it appears that a united front is what everyone wants against the BJP, yet there are far too many roadblocks in the process and this will only make BJP’s task easier.
Unless there is sudden change in script, not many are hopeful of BSP-Congress pact and BSP’s entry in the larger opposition alliance,” said political expert Irshad Ilmi.
Earlier, when Congress replaced Ajay Rai with UPCC chief Brij Lal Khabri, a former Dalit leader from BSP, as the state chief barely 10 months into his tenure, it was taken as a sign of party mulling an alliance with the BSP. More so, as former Maya aide turned adversary Nasimuddin Siddiqui, who after a bitter parting with Maya, joined the Congress and was made head of the media wing, too was eased out of his job.
Congress is part of the ruling alliance in Bihar that is dominated by Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar’s JD (U) and former CM Lalu Yadav’s RJD. The Bihar CM, a Kurmi (OBC), is also likely to address rallies in U.P. though his party has made it clear that those rallies would be organised in a way that would ensure that “SP’s interests” are not affected.
The JD (U) has said that at many places the rallies could be held along with the SP, but hasn’t cleared the air about the possibility of Congress participation.
