LUCKNOW: BSP national president Mayawati has sent senior and experienced leaders from UP as “emissaries” to other states where Assembly elections are imminent. The leaders will work as “Behenji’s men” in states like Gujarat, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. In Gujarat, where Assembly elections might be held in December this year, the party is keen to cash in on the anti-incumbency factor.
Senior BSP leaders, including former minister Dharamveer Ashok and Rajya Sabha MP Ashok Siddharth, have been appointed the in-charge for Gujarat. It was only two months back that the party appointed a local leader, BS Parmar, as state president for its Gujarat unit.
“The strategy is simple,” said a party insider, adding that local leaders will be accommodated in the state’s organizational unit. “To oversee the functioning and performance of the state unit, there will be leaders from the party’s central leadership. They will review and report to Behenji,” he said.
The BSP has never won a seat in Gujarat. A few seats in Valsad, Jamnagar and Daang are where the BSP was in the fight in the last elections.
“The results for the last assembly elections showed the party coming second on at least five or so seats and that’s where we have hope this time. Though we plan to contest all 182 seats,” said the national spokesperson Dharamveer Chaudhary.
In Rajasthan, again, senior leaders, Rajya Sabha MP Ramji Gautam and Suresh Arya have been appointed as in-charge for the state. Party’s national coordinator Akash Anand is also active in the desert state.
BSP has contested Assembly elections in at least 15 states which include Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana, Kerala, Telangana, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi also. Now, it is trying to expand to states like Gujarat, Bihar, Orissa and West Bengal where it has never won or contested.
