UP: Akhilesh Fails to Upstage Mayawati, But Exposes Her Deal With BJP
Lucknow: In the high political drama that was witnessed here on Wednesday, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav might have failed to upstage his arch rival, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati, who had her way with her party’s official nominee in the Rajya Sabha biennial elections. But what has been blatantly exposed in the bargain is the underhand nexus between Mayawati and the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Had it not been for the BJP’s special patronage, Mayawati could not have succeeded in ensuring a smooth sail for her candidate Ramji Gautam. After all, it was the rejection of Samajwadi Party-sponsored independent nominee Prakash Bajaj’s nomination that created clear-cut room for Gautam’s unopposed election.
Akhilesh, who had been lying low for some time, suddenly came to the limelight of Uttar Pradesh politics on Tuesday when he stealthily pushed the for the nomination of Prakash Bajaj, an industrialist. Apparently, he had already been working on some vulnerable BSP MLAs, who on the following day declared that their signatures had been forged on Gautam's nomination papers.
As if that was not enough, they did not hesitate to shortly thereafter drive down to the SP office, where they met Akhilesh. Sure enough, the cat was out of the bag. The message was loud and clear that six of the 18 BSP MLAs were up in arms and that they would cross-vote for the SP-supported independent Bajaj.
It was already amply evident that BSP’s Gautam was banking on the surplus vote of the BJP, which had fielded only eight candidates. As many as ten seats are falling vacant next month. With 47 MLAs, the Samajwadi Party could have got only one slot, which Akhilesh had carefully reserved for his uncle Ram Gopal Yadav.
At present, only three of these seats were held by the BJP, four by SP, two by BSP and one by the Congress.
As per the existing calculations, each candidate requires 37 preference votes to win a RS seat. Thus, after seeing eight of its nominees through, the 304-member BJP would have a surplus of 17 votes. Thus even with its ally Apna Dal’s nine MLAs, BJP could not have got its ninth member through.
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It was here that BJP was understood to have struck a deal with BSP chief Mayawati. Obviously, Mayawati jumped at the offer and fielded Gautam. If insiders are to be believed, an unwritten quid pro quo was struck for going together to the next state assembly poll in 2022 .
That was the time for Akhilesh to strike and expose the BSP supremo, who had left no stone unturned to run him down after the two parties failed to run a smooth alliance for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
In fact, Akhilesh actually sought to do a tit for tat with the BJP, which had brought in its surprise nominee Anil Agarwal at the last Rajya Sabha biennial poll in 2018. Agarwal defeated the combined BSP-SP candidate Bhimrao Ambedkar.
It is believed that Akhilesh knew the ultimate outcome of the current RS poll, yet he chose to push the candidature of the 11th nominee in the fray simply because his game plan was to expose Mayawati’s underhand deal with the BJP. And to that extent, it was a success for him.
Mayawati’s handshake with the BJP at this juncture could easily ensure the complete alienation of Muslims with the BSP at the next assembly election in 2022. And sure enough, that would mean yet another advantage for Akhilesh, whose party could win the support of the minority community. After all, SP alone would be then seen as the most potent political force against the BJP.
Interestingly, none other than Mayawati has put her own stamp on whatever Akhilesh was trying to bring to the fore about her. “The manner in which Samajwadi Party has tried to create schisms in my party is bound to further distance us from that party; and I will not mind supporting BJP nominees at the MLC elections in the future, rather than have any truck with SP,” Mayawati told a hastily convened press conference here today.
Sharat Pradhan is a Lucknow-based journalist and author.
This article went live on October twenty-ninth, two thousand twenty, at eleven minutes past ten at night.The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments.
