“Vote for the BSP will be a vote for the BJP.” This is likely to be the campaign theme of the Congress in the coming UP Assembly elections to discredit the main players, the BSP and the BJP, at a time
“Vote for the BSP will be a vote for the BJP.” This is likely to be the campaign theme of the Congress in the coming UP Assembly elections to discredit the main players, the BSP and the BJP, at a time when the ruling SP is facing anti-incumbency.
The Congress, which will be taking on the SP, BSP and the BJP in the electoral battle, knows well that the Ajit Singh-led RLD will have virtually no option but to ally with a “third force”.
Mr Singh had earlier allied with the BJP and the Congress. While the SP does not give him much importance, the BSP believes in post-poll deals. If the RLD wants to be relevant, it has to decide who could be its allies, feel Congress sources.
The Congress’ main rival in UP is the BJP. A defeat of the saffron party would not only be the setback for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but could also set the tone for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and have a bearing on the presidential elections in July next year. The majority of the UP Congress is keen to ally with the BSP with a calculation that this would bring brahmins and Muslims closer to the Congress and a brahmin-dalit-Muslim combination would be a winning one. But Ms Mayawati is unpredictable. She had allied with the BJP and campaigned with it after the Babri Masjid demolition and the Gujarat riots, and nobody can guarantee she would not ally with the BJP after the polls. “Minorities had voted decisively in Bihar and Delhi because they knew JD(U)-RJD and AAP cannot be friendly with the BJP. But none can say this about Mayawati,” said a senior Congress leader from UP.
