BSP Possible prepoll alliance with INC, Grand alliance with RLD AIMIM, Mayawati,Bahujan Samaj Party,Uttar Pradesh,Pre Poll Alliance,Congress,Uttarakhand,Bihar Assembly Election,Grand Alliance,Bjp,Rashtriya Lok Dal,Aimim

BSP Possible prepoll alliance with INC, Grand alliance with RLD AIMIM, Mayawati,Bahujan Samaj Party,Uttar Pradesh,Pre Poll Alliance,Congress,Uttarakhand,Bihar Assembly Election,Grand Alliance,Bjp,Rashtriya Lok Dal,Aimim

There’s been wide-spread speculation of the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party in Uttar Pradesh entering into a pre-poll alliance with the Congress.

The speculation became serious after the BSP gave support to the Congress in Uttarakhand. Even earlier, after the Bihar assembly election results in November last year, there was a lot of talk about a possible ‘Grand Alliance’ in Uttar Pradesh, just like Bihar.

The idea of a Grand Alliance is to keep the BJP out, but even the BJP wouldn’t mind a pre-poll alliance with Mayawati. Speculation of pre-poll alliance with the Dalit-led party has included the Jat-led Rashtriya Lok Dal and the Muslim-led AIMIM.

Speculation of a pre-poll alliance with Mayawati is always rife before every election in Uttar Pradesh, both Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha, but such speculation does not understand the BSP’s politics or history.

The only time the BSP entered into a pre-poll alliance was in 1993, with the Samajwadi Party. The BSP had played a junior partner, contesting 164 of 420 odd seats.

That alliance was formed in the post-Babri demolition mood where parties wanted to come together to keep out the Kalyan Singh-led BJP. For BSP founder Kanshi Ram, it was an experiment in trying to uniting Dalits, Muslims and OBCs – basically everybody other than the Hindu upper castes who form a core vote-bank of the BJP.

The experiment didn’t last long, and ended bitterly, both because of the ideological differences between the two parties, and the reality of the contestation between Dalits and OBCs for power and privilege in UP’s towns and villages.

Despite Mayawati’s denials, speculation of pre-poll alliances with the BSP continues because the BSP is seen, for good reason, a power hungry party that will do anything to come to power. Except that the BSP behaves this way only after elections, because elections are sacred.

Mayawati further explained after Uttarakhand, "We don't believe in alliance for the sake of elections, when my party did not ally with any other political outfit in the states where the BSP strength is weak then no question arises that we will ally with any party in our strong region. The BSP will not ally with anybody for the upcoming elections in Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, we will fight the polls alone."

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