Opposition unity ahead of the 2019 lok Sabha elections. The Samajwadi party and the Congress leaders said the prospect of a united front hinges primarily on Mayawati, who is keeping her cards close to her chest.
Soon after their worst ever poll debacle in 2017 UP state assembly elections both SP and BSP had expressed their desire to join hands for countering the march of the BJP. There is no headway so far in last one year. After the elections of the Urban local bodies the Rajya Sabha election to 10 Rajya Sabha seats is yeast another whether opposition is serious for forging a common front. There are total 31 Rajya Sabha Members from UP.
With 325 seats in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, the BJP is in a comfortable position to win eight seats in the Rajya Sabha poll, while the Samajwadi Party, can win only one as its strength in the Assembly has been reduced to 47. The Opposition can bag the 10th seat if it decides to pool its surplus votes for a common candidate.
leaders of the three main Opposition parties maintain it is still too early to discuss the possibility of forging a united front for this election. Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav said his party will be happy if the BSP agrees to support its candidate while BSP leader Ambika Chowdhary said party chief Mayawati is yet to take a view on this matter. Congress leaders maintained that since it is only a bit player in Uttar Pradesh, it is up to the other two parties to take the initiative.
Though the three main Opposition players appear ambivalent on this issue, a senior state Congress leader admitted that if all Opposition parties put up a common candidate in the Rajya Sabha election, it will not only have an impact on the bye-elections in the Gorakhpur and Phulpur lok Sabha seats but could well set the stage for the bigger and more crucial battle ahead in the 2019 general elections.
The two lok Sabha seats in UP fell vacant after Chief Minister Adityanath and deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya resigned from the lok Sabha to take over their new assignments in lucknow last year.
Talk of Opposition unity gained ground in recent days after United Progressive Alliance Chairperson Sonia Gandhi presided over a meeting of 17 Opposition parties on the eve of the budget session of the parliament where she stressed the need for them to take a united stand on matters of national importance both inside and outside Parliament.
However, the absence of the BSP at this meeting raised serious questions about this exercise. With a year to go for the next lok Sabha election, it has become necessary for Opposition parties to begin planning their moves if they are serious about taking on the BJP. While acknowledging this fact, Opposition leaders also pointed out that the success of this proposed joint front will centre around the electorally-important state of Uttar Pradesh where the BJP won as many as 73 of the 80 lok Sabha seats in the 2014 general election and a landslide in the Assembly elections last year.
The Opposition can only hope to weaken the BJP here if it puts up a united fight. But a viable alliance will only be possible if Mayawati is on board. Though political pundits wrote her off after her party’s dismal performance in the state in the 2014 lok Sabha and 2017 UP Assembly polls, Mayawati continues to be a key player as her Jatav support base remains intact.
Soon after the declaration of the UP Assembly poll results both Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati had publicly declared that they would be willing to set aside their differences and work together in the future.
However, Yadav has since announced that his party does not favor an alliance, while Mayawati has been silent on this issue. BSP sources said that after her party’s success in civic elections in Uttar Pradesh in December, Mayawati is keeping her options open.