lok-sabha-elections

Updated: Jan 21, 2019 17:23 IST

Union minister Ramdas Athawale on Sunday asked Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief, Mayawati, to join hands with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

He cited “internal contradictions” and insisted the BSP’s alliance with Samajwadi Party (SP), which was announced on January 12 for the national polls this summer, will not last long.

Athawale, whose Republican Party of India (RPI) is a part of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the Centre, said “reports from various parts of Uttar Pradesh” suggested SP and BSP supporters were unhappy with the alliance.

“…Mayawati became Uttar Pradesh chief minister thrice with the BJP’s support. The BSP cadre knows well that the alliance with the SP will not give desired electoral gains in the Lok Sabha polls. Instead of the SP, Mayawati should again join hands with the BJP,” he said.

He condemned BJP lawmaker Sadhna Singh’s derogatory remarks accusing Mayawati of selling her dignity in exchange for power, saying leaders should make political rather than personal attacks. “The remark… will benefit the BSP in polls,” he said.

Athawale referred to the BJP’s loss in last year’s Lok Sabha by-polls in Gorakhpur, Phulpur, and Kairana in the face of a combined opposition and added the party lost by a small margin. “In the Lok Sabha polls, people will vote for [Prime Minister] Narendra Modi and the NDA will defeat the BSP-SP alliance,” he said.

Athawale said the RPI has requested BJP president Amit Shah to allot it three Lok Sabha seats in UP, where the BJP won 71 out of 80 Lok Sabha seats in 2014, to mobilise Dalits in support of the NDA. RPI is seen to have support among Dalits even as the BSP has a strong base within the community. In the 2014 Lok Sabha and 2017 state polls , the BJP got about 14% Dalit votes.

A political analyst and Dalit ideologue RK Gautam said, “ The BSP and SP are considered archrivals...after the BSP chief Mayawati break the alliance with SP in 1995...The leaders of the BSP-SP alliance will have to work hard to gel the respective cadre before the Lok Sabha election... the BJP will try to take benefit of the ideological differences.”