The Hindu : BSP open to poll tie-up in State

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 29, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka - Mysore

BSP open to poll tie-up in State

By Our Staff Correspondent

MYSORE, MARCH 28. Notwithstanding the Bahujan Samaj Party president, Mayawati's assertions against electoral alliances, the party's State unit has said that it is still open to a tie-up with either the Congress or the Janata Dal (S) for the elections in the State.

The party's State unit secretary, Mahesh Kumar, told The Hindu that the party still had an open mind on an electoral understanding with either the Congress or the Janata Dal (S) if the leaders of the two parties shunned their "political arrogance'' and came forward to strike a "fair deal'' with the party.

The new stance of party's State unit's on electoral adjustment virtually comes at the 11th hour when filing of nomination papers for the simultaneous elections to the Legislative Assembly and the Lok Sabha has begun.

However, the Congress and the Janata Dal (S) are yet to officially announce the candidates for the elections.

Also, Mr. Mahesh Kumar's renewed call for a tie-up indicates an apparent turnaround in the party's earlier stance. During her recent visit to the city to kick off the party's election campaign in the State, Ms. Mayawati made it clear that the party will go it alone in the elections.

She even rejected the idea of entering into an electoral alliance in view of the party's previous experiences, which, according to her, has favoured only the alliance partner.

"In the event of the party entering into an electoral alliance with a `manuvadi' party, the votes of the alliance partner's supporters will not come to the party candidates, but the votes of party will go to the alliance partner's candidates,'' Ms. Mayawati reasoned at the rally.

However, Ms. Mayawati also pointed out that the party was not averse to a tie-up if the Bahujan Samaj Party and the alliance partner mutually benefited.

But Mr. Mahesh Kumar said Ms. Mayawati's aversion to an electoral alliance was confined only to the party in northern India.

Though the party categorised Congress, the Janata Dal (S) and the Bharatiya Janata Party as "manuvadi'' parties, an electoral understanding between the Bahujan Samaj Party and one of the two mainstream "secular'' parties — Congress and the Janata Dal (S) — could avert the division of "secular'' votes, he said.

Mr. Mahesh Kumar pointed out that the dent Congress and the Janata Dal (S) would suffer in their vote-base on account of the party's presence in the fray would give the BJP an advantage in the elections. For, the Bahujan Samaj Party shared a common vote-base with the Congress and the Janata Dal (S).

"Dalits are our principal vote-base. The votes the party secures in the polls will be at the cost of the Congress in most of the constituencies and the Janata Dal (S) in certain pockets of south Karnataka,'' Mr. Mahesh Kumar said. However, it was left to the leaders of the Congress and the Janata Dal (S) to take the initiative for a tie-up.

The Bahujan Samaj Party contested in 90 Assembly seats and six Lok Sabha seats in the State in 1999. But the party drew a blank. It claims that it has grown in strength this time and its presence in the electoral arena will ensure that the Congress is defeated in at least 50 constituencies in the State. It is contesting 120 Assembly seats and 15 Lok Sabha seats this time.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Karnataka

News Update

Stories in this Section

BSP open to poll tie-up in State

Dissidence to the fore in Congress

Use of election-related plastic publicity material banned

Radio programme soon to help SSLC students

Corporation to build toilets