UP bypolls: Revolt building up in BSP over support to SP

Lucknow: The thawing of relations between the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party in Uttar Pradesh has apparently not gone down well with the rank and file of the BSP, which sees the move as “suicidal”.

With hours of BSP president Mayawati announcing the party’s support to SP for the Lok Sabha bypolls, a virtual revolt has started building up in the BSP.

A number of senior party leaders, who spoke to this correspondent on condition of anonymity, said the decision to support the SP was “nothing short of blasphemy”.

“More than the political animosity between the two parties, it is the social hostilities between the two social groups — dalits and Yadavs — that will prove detrimental to the interests of the BSP. For more than two decades, we have tutored our voters not to befriend the SP, and now we are doing the same ourselves. As it is, dalits are veering towards the BJP and this move will push them further away”, a senior party MLA said.

If sources are to be believed, a former MP and two MLCs are even preparing to quit the party and join the Congress in protest.

“In my constituency, we have been fighting against the atrocities on dalits by local SP leaders for years, and suddenly we can’t expect them to kiss and make up. If this is the kind of politics that our leaders are pursuing, I would prefer to look for greener pastures”, the former MP said.

Senior BSP leaders confess they were never consulted by the party leadership on this issue. “There is no culture of seeking opinions in the BSP. We are simply informed of the decisions, and opposing any decision will mean expulsion from the party”, a state-level leader said.

A former BSP leader who has now shifted to the BJP also echoed similar sentiments, and said: “We have all seen what happened to the Congress-SP alliance last year. The respective voters of the two parties refused to accept the bonhomie between Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav, and both the parties hit rock bottom. This story will be repeated with the BSP and SP: after all, their hatred has acquired legendary proportions”.

Party leaders feel the coming together of SP-BSP may seem a fantastic option on paper as together they will rule over 50 per cent votes. “But in practical terms, this doesn’t translate into reality so easily. There are factors and counter-factors that come into play when an alliance materialises”, said a party functionary.

In the Samajwadi Party too, there are voices of dissent over this issue. Senior SP leader Shivpal Yadav said: “This is a temporary arrangement for the byelections, and this will do more harm than good to our party. If everyone is sincerely concerned about defeating the BJP, all like-minded parties should come together under one umbrella and keep their egos and demands on the side.”