Aware of the historical baggage and the bitter enmity they shared in the past, the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party are treading cautiously for formalising an alliance out of political compulsions.
Interestingly, BSP chief Mayawati came out in defence of Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav over the infamous State Guest House incident of 1995 saying, “The SP president had not made his debut in politics in 1995.”
A senior leader of the Samajwadi Party said, “The bonhomie shown by Mayawati shows that she is desperate for an alliance for the 2019 lok Sabha elections. It is going to be an uphill task for us to agree on seat sharing and leave as many as 45 out of the total 80 lok Sabha seats for our allies.”
“The SP won two lok Sabha bypolls and the BSP has also gained as the exodus from the party to Samajwadi Party has now ended. In the last one year, a large number of former MlAs and MPs, leaders like Indrajit Saroj and former minister RK Chaudhary joined the Samajwadi Party,” the leader pointed out.
Sources said that the SP and the BSP, which came together during the recent Gorakhpur and Phulpur lok Sabha bypolls, have started singling out seats where the BJP had won because of division of votes between the two regional parties in the 2014 election.
Now, the two parties want to avoid a clash over any such seat while aiming to consolidate their different social bases in almost every constituency.
The BSP members said that party chief Mayawati was busy talking to co-ordinators every day and collecting feedback about progress of organisational works.
In BSP organisation, there is a long process for constituting booth committees at ground level. Party co-ordinators personally verify the list of booth members, after which the list is cleared at the state level.
“We hope to complete this task before the beginning of Ramzan in mid-May. The BSP’s main strength is its organisational work. The party has not been in power for the past six years but it has learnt lessons from its mistakes in the previous elections,” a BSP leader said.
The coming together of the two parties created a vital caste combination comprising Yadavs, Nishads, Kurmis, Dalits and Muslims. The two had earlier come together in 1993, to stop a belligerent Bharatiya Janata Party which was riding the crest of Ram temple movement after demolition of Babri mosque on December 6 1992.
The then Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav had approached BSP founder Kanshi Ram to propose an alliance. The parties formed government which did not last long because of the hostility between the rank and file of both the parties as both parties competed for the same political space comprising Scheduled Castes, Other Backward Classes and Muslims.
The intense hostility between the two parties precipitated during panchayat elections in April 1995 and ultimately led to the BSP withdrawing support to Mulayam Singh Yadav government. Following the collapse of alliance in June 1995, the Mulayam Singh government was dismissed by then Governor Moti lal Vora and Mayawati was sworn-in as Chief Minister. The bitter rivalry between the two parties dominated state politics for the following two decades.
A SP leader, however, said, “In 1992-93, when both parties entered into alliance, both were new. This time, the story is different as both have politically matured after going through turbulence. The BSP displayed political maturity by transferring its votes to SP in Gorakhpur and Phulpur bypolls. The current political circumstances are different and both parties are fighting existential battle so we have no option but to behave.”