Having launched hr party’s campaign for 2019 lok Sabha poll by holding a rally at Meerut on September 18, Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati is set to try and make inroads into SP patron Mulayam Singh’s turf at Azamgarh through a huge rally on Tuesday.
BSP leaders and functionaries from Azamgarh, Varanasi and Mirjapur regions are expected to attend the rally. Mayawati also has plans to expand her vote-base by addressing similar rallies across the country attempting to wrest her party’s base -Dalits, ahead of the elections.
Party sources confirmed that besides a rally in Azamgarh on Tuesday (October 24), Mayawati will also address rallies across the country till May 2018.
Beside addressing five rallies in Azamgarh, Kanpur, Aligarh, Ayodhya and lucknow, another series of eight of rallies has been planned in Bhopal, Bengaluru, Jaipur, Patna, Delhi, Chandigarh, Kangra and Uttarakhand.
Mayawati kicked off her party’s poll campaign in Meerut, which is considered to be a BSP stronghold due to predominant Dalit, OBC and Muslim populace in the area.
In the last few elections, a section of Dalit and OBC voters—especially non-Jatav Dalits and non-Yadav OBCs, have drifted toward Bharatiya Janata Party while Mayawati has not been able to consolidate Muslim votes.
The weakening of BSP’s social base was apparent in 2014 lok Sabha elections when the party failed to win a single seat and again in February-March Assembly elections in UP where it won a meagre 19 of the 403 seats.
With no representation in lok Sabha, five members in Rajya Sabha and just 19 legislators in UP Assembly, these rallies will be crucial in attempts at rejuvenating the party. Mayawati has strategically chosen areas with considerable Dalit populace to try and revive her party’s fortunes for the upcoming general elections.
The BSP would also contest the coming Urban local Bodies polls in the sstate for the first time on party symbol to regain lost base.