Ahead of 2019, Uttar Pradesh BJP will highlight the message of the ‘fragility and instability’ of a grand alliance it its ground-level campaign.
New Delhi: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati’s outburst against the Congress has not just emboldened the BJP, but has also given fresh impetus to its campaign on the ground in the most crucial state — Uttar Pradesh.
According to well-informed sources in the Uttar Pradesh BJP, the party feels “strengthened” by Mayawati’s remarks, and has devised a plan to “systematically weave it into its ground campaign in the state”.
To spread the message of the “fragility and instability” of a grand alliance, the BJP UP has a booth-level plan.
Also read: In Mayawati’s selfish politics, there’s no room for opposition unity
Mayawati had Wednesday launched a tirade against the Congress, saying she will fight the upcoming Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh assembly elections alone. Earlier, the BSP had announced a tie-up with Ajit Jogi in Chhattisgarh, which also goes to polls by end of the year, leaving the Congress out.
Fault lines in opposition unity exposed?
The BSP supremo’s decision has exposed serious fault lines in the very idea of a mahagathbandhan (grand alliance), which the Congress was looking to build as a counter to the Modi-Shah-led BJP, and has national ramifications.
However, the state it impacts the most is Uttar Pradesh, which has 80 seats in the Lok Sabha and where the BJP has been concerned about suffering reverses in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls after talks of a mega alliance between Congress, Samajwadi Party, BSP and Ajit Singh’s Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) gained momentum.
“This is a golden opportunity for us. We have decided to use it as a key part of our campaign not just overall, but at the level of each booth,” said a BJP leader, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
“Our entire sangathan (organisation) in the state is ready — from sanchalan samitis in each Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha seats to booth committees. We will spread the message of how fragile and unstable the concept of a mahagathbandhan is through these organisational structures, but most importantly, through booth committees,” said the source added.
The source claimed the various committees of the party are in constant touch with the voters.
“As part of our campaign, we have been publicising our achievements. But the very public cracks in the grand alliance have now given us concrete elements we can add,” he said.
To begin with, BJP plans to tell the voters that it’s a “united force with a declared strong leader”.
“The opposition, meanwhile, doesn’t know what is happening within and is a faceless entity,” the source add.
Exploiting this opportunity
The BJP plans to cite not just Mayawati’s example, but also that of the Samajwadi Party. Senior SP leader and former CM Akhilesh Yadav’s uncle Shivpal Yadav recently quit the party to float his own outfit.
“In UP, talking about local leaders has a lot of resonance. So we can talk about Mayawati, Shivpal Yadav and also Akshilesh’s statement in which he said Congress needs to show a big heart to drill in the point about how shaky a mahagathbandhan will be, even if it does materialise in the state,” another UP BJP leader said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
Also read: It’s advantage BJP as Mayawati snubs ‘arrogant’ Congress
According to the party sources, the message has already gone out to karyakartas — up to the booth level — to quote from Mayawati’s remarks and communicate to voters at the micro level about the “advantages of a stable BJP versus an opportunistic, divided opposition”.
In 2014, the BJP won 71 of the 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh, which helped catapult it past the magic half-way mark in the Lok Sabha. The party also managed to wrest power in 2017 assembly polls in the state with massive numbers. However, talks of a grand alliance caused the BJP some anxiety, especially after being defeated by it in bypolls in Gorakhpur, Phulpur and Kairana earlier this year.
This, coupled with anti-incumbency both at the national and state level, meant the BJP had to devise an effective way to counter the opposition, and Mayawati’s onslaught has, thus, come as a big boost to it.
Behenji – in the language of espionage – has been “ turned “. Unless she allies formally with the BJP, going solo for her leads into the sunset. She will have the mortification of seeing her loyal vote bank turn to electoral dust, as it did in 2014. 2. For an incumbent seeking a second term, the dialogue is with the voter, one on one. The opposition is peripheral, especially if it has been reduced to 44 seats in the Lok Sabha. Between the promises of 2014 and 2019 lies five years of performance. An honest Report Card. That is what the focus should be on. No distraction will prove strong enough to take peoples’ minds away from the economy.