Mayawati focuses on eastern Uttar Pradesh

Lucknow: Buoyed by the success of the Azamgarh rally on Tuesday, BSP supremo Mayawati is now focusing on eastern Uttar Pradesh for her party’s revival, instead of western UP, considered a BSP stronghold till the 2014 general polls.

Selecting the venue for Tuesday’s rally with care, she decided on Rani Sarai, located in the Azamgarh Sadar seat on the border of Varanasi, which is Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s parliamentary constituency.

Ms Mayawati’s announcement that she would embrace Buddhism from Hinduism, akin to her mentor Kanshi Ram, if atrocities on dalits, most backward castes (MBCs) and OBCs are not stopped in the BJP regime, was seen as a well calculated move by many.

It may be noted that in 2014 general elections and in 2017 Assembly polls, dalits, MBCs and OBCs had converted into Hinduism and voted for the BJP, thereby, decimating the BSP. So much so that out of 19 seats that the BJP won in the UP Assembly polls, 14 came from eastern UP alone — reason enough for Ms Mayawati to focus on this region for reviving her party.

“The success of the Azamgarh rally is indication enough that people are feeling cheated by the BJP and are again looking towards the BSP. They feel that the BSP is a better alternative compared to the BJP and SP,” BSP MP Satish Chandra Misra said.