Out of power in its home State Uttar Pradesh (UP), the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is desperately looking to make grounds in Madhya Pradesh where Assembly elections are due next month.
The BSP in its efforts to emerge as political force to reckon with in the State is working over time on a strategy to grab so much of share in the ensuing Assembly elections that no Government could be formed without its support. In the process, the party has formulated a strategy to pay special focus on the seats it won and where it was at number two and three in the 2008 Assembly elections of Madhya Pradesh.
In 2008, the BSP registered victory on seven Assembly constituencies while it was at number two on 19 assembly constituencies and the margin of loss at these constituencies was less than 2,500 while the party stood on third position at 70 Assembly constituencies and the losing margin was less than 5,000 on these seats.
BSP State president IS Morya while talking to The Pioneer said, “We registered strong presence on about 100 Assembly constituencies in the 2008 Assembly elections. Though we did manage to win only seven seats, our performance was like that of near victory on over two dozen seats that we lost by very narrow margins and on over six dozen Assembly constituencies we were at number three and lost these seats by margin of less than 5000 votes.”
Morya said that besides these 96 Assembly constituencies their mass base has been increased on additional three dozen seats bordering the neighboring UP, but they have decided to pay special attention to retain the seats they won in 2008 and on the two dozen seats where we were at number two. Besides focus would also be on the six dozen seats where we were at number three, he added.
The BSP State chief said that his party was not claiming to form the Government here but at the same time, the BSP was sure that no Government would be formed without its support in Madhya Pradesh. “We do not predict any number like the major political forces in the State claiming that they would win 130-140 seats in the run for Assembly polls schedules next month. But we are very much sure that their numbers would become short and they would need our support to form the Government in the State,” he added.