SP and BSP struggle to overcome rifts within

On the face of it, there is little in common between engineering and politics, but in Uttar Pradesh, one has started impacting the other.

BSP president Mayawati’s social engineering that has catapulted her to a majority in 2007 is now pulling her party apart, while Samajwadi president Mulayam Singh Yadav’s family engineering that had taken his party to a comfortable majority in 2012, now threatens to erase the achievements of his son Akhilesh’s government.

Both, the SP and the BSP, are considered as front-runners for the 2017 Assembly polls, but the problems within the parties could mar their plans.

The BSP, even before it could recover from the impact of desertions by OBC and dalit leaders like Swami Prasad Maurya and R.K. Chaudhary, is now facing a virtual revolt in the ranks form Brahmin leaders.

Former BSP MP Brajesh Pathak left the party last week, accusing Ms Mayawati of cancelling the tickets of 70 Brahmin leaders and giving them to Muslim candidates. Pathak was the second tallest Brahmin leader in the BSP, second only to Mr Satish Chandra Misra.

Other Brahmin leaders who have left the BSP include Rakesh Dhar Tripathi, Rajesh Tripathi and Bala Prasad Awasthi. If sources are to be believed, half-a-dozen more Brahmin leaders are preparing to quit the party next month.

It may be recalled that it was Ms Mayawati’s social engineering formula of bringing dalits and Brahmins together that led her to form a majority government in 2007.

“The manner in which Brahmins were treated in the BSP has made most of us leave the party. You cannot use one caste only for the sake of votes,” said a Brahmin MLA, who is also planning to quit.

With the OBCs, non-Jatav dalits and now Brahmins getting increasingly disillusioned in the BSP, the party may have a tough time in the upcoming elections.

The Samajwadi Party, on the other hand, is grappling with family engineering where relationships within the family are falling apart.

After the recent family drama in which Shivpal Singh Yadav threatened to quit, it is now another “family like member” Amar Singh who has alleged that he is also being insulted and humiliated in the party.

The issue that rocked the Samajwadi boat was the proposed merger with Qaumi Ekta Dal last month and the same issue now threatens the family unit again.

QED leader Mukhtar Ansari has held two meetings with Mr Shivpal Singh Yadav and Mr Azam Khan and has reportedly agreed for an alliance in the upcoming Assembly polls. Chief minister Akhilesh Yadav, who had strongly opposed any truck with QED, is now believed to be “seething with rage” at the new development.