Reiterating that her party will emerge as balance of power at the centre post lok Sabha elections, Bahujan Samaj Party Chief Mayawati announced candidates for 80 lok Sabha seats from Uttar Pradesh stitching a social engineering combination of two divergent castes of Brahmin and dalit that had catapulted the party to power in Uttar Pradesh in 2007.
Of the 80 candidates announced by Mayawati on Thursday more than one fourth - 29 to be precise - are from upper caste. Of them 21 are Brahmins. Party’s major vote bank-the dalits - got only 17 seats and all of them were of reserve category. After Brahmims, Muslims got the largest share of 19 seats followed by backwards as 15. The party has given tickets to seven women as well.
"We have assimilated all castes in our list. We have given representation to all the castes and religious groups as per their participation in the party." Mayawati said while releasing the list of the candidates.
Party’s Brahmin-Dalit social engineering combination is a battle tested formula. In 2007 assembly election Mayawati surprised all by combining two divergent social castes of Brahmins and dalits that gave dividend and the party came to power with a resounding margin. The thinking behind this social equation is that with Brahmin face at the forefront it is easy to divide the upper caste votes. The transfer of dalit votes on BSP’s name is a natural phenomenon and these two castes - if can combine at ground level - could BSP win many seats.
"What happened in 2007 will happen in this election too. The party will win enough seats to emerge as balance of power. When this will happen the BSP will form government with like minded parties minus BJP-led NDA and Congress-led UPA," Mayawati said.
She said that her party will take all necessary steps to stop NDA from coming to power. When asked whether she had discussions with Jayalalitha or Mamta Banrejee over post poll scenario she said: "The BSP will look for these options after elections. We do not know who will get how many seats so there is no use talking about it now."
The candidates she announced carry all shades. Some of them are criminals like Pawan Pandey who has been fielded against BJP's Varun Gandhi from Sultanpur, while Jitendra Singh alias Babloo, involved in an incident of arson at Congress leader Rita Bahuguna Joshi's house, has been announced as candidate from Faizabad seat Dreaded dacoit Phoolan Devi’s husband Ummed Singh is party candidate from Shahajahanpur while war veteran Akbar Ahmed 'Dumpy' will be BSP's candidate against Union minister Beni Prasad Verma in Gonda.
The part has retained almost all the MPs but changes sittings candidates in Kairana, HamirpurDeoria, Salempur, Jaunpur and Bhadohi. Former minister Jaiveer Singh has been fielded from Farrukhabad against Congress' Salman Khurshid while Vijay Prakash Jaiswal will be contesting against BJP's PM candidate Narendra Modi from Varanasi.
Sanghmitra Maurya, daughter of party's senior leader and former state unit president Swami Prasad Maurya, and Shah Alam alias Guddu Jamali have been fielded against Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav from Mainpuri and Azamgarh seats respectively.
BSP has given tickets to two relatives of former minister Ramvir Upadhaya. His wife Seema Upadhyay has been renominated from her sitting constitutency Fatehpur Sikri from where RlD has fielded Amar Singh, while his brother Mukul Upadhaya will contest from Ghaziabad.