In a dramatic shift, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati accused the opposition Samajwadi Party (SP) of being the B team of the ruling BJP.
“In constituencies, where the SP is weak, it is asking its voters to transfer the votes to BJP to keep the BSP out of power,” Ms. Mayawati said. Ironically, the SP has levelled the same charge against Ms. Mayawati.
Addressing a massive rally in Azamgarh on Monday, Ms. Mayawati said that looking at the crowd, one could easily say that the BSP would end up at number one spot in Purvanchal. The region with 102 seats will vote in the sixth and seventh phases.
‘Mulayam blessed Modi’
She said SP had a history of embracing the BJP and reminded the crowd that SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav had blessed Mr. Narendra Modi ahead of the 2014 elections and Akhilesh Yadav had embraced the BJP’s Kalyan Singh in 2003 to keep her out of power.
Targeting Mr Akhilesh Yadav in his bastion, Ms. Mayawati said the SP chief had won the Azamgarh Lok Sabha seat in 2109 because of the tie-up with the BSP but has been missing in action during his tenure. “Even now, instead of Azamgarh, he is focussing on convessing in Varanasi zone and contesting from Karhal in Mainpuri,” she said and pointed out that Mr. Yadav has had to rope in his ailing father to canvas for him.
Both Azamgarh and Varanasi will vote in the seventh phase. In 2017, BSP won four of the 10 seats in Azamgarh. SP got five while the BJP bagged one seat.
Responding to the barb, Mr Yadav, while addressing a rally in Ballia, said this time the Samajwadis had been bolstered by the support of the Ambdekarites and would root out the BJP. Chandrika Nishad, SP party secretary in Azamgarh said the BJP was using the BSP to divide the Muslim vote because a large section of the most backward class vote had shifted to the SP.
Senior journalist Mohd Shamim said Ms. Mayawati’s shifting base could be gauged from the fact that she addressed a rally of 21 constituencies in Azamgarh. “In districts where the BJP is weak, it is using BSP as its proxy. Perhaps, that is why Ms Mayawati didn’t utter a single word against the BJP and targetted only the SP and the Congress,” he said.
