Mayawati aloof, left to own devices, BSP MPs weigh options

Incidentally, as part of its arrangement with the SP declared on Wednesday, the Congress is set to contest Amroha. Ali has been active on the ground in anticipation.

With Mayawati inaccessible, the remaining eight sitting MPs of the BSP are unsure if they will even be re-fielded by the party. Sources said the MPs are yet to be contacted by the party organisation as part of election preparations.

Asked about the party’s MPs looking at other parties, including the SP, BJP and Congress, its central coordinator Ramji Gautam declined to comment.

A BSP MP said, “I am not even being called for organisation meetings, like ongoing cadre camps. So, I have to look for options.”

The BSP MP from Jaunpur, Shyam Singh Yadav, had joined Rahul Gandhi’s first Bharat Jodo Yatra, in December 2022, and walked with him for about three hours as it crossed Delhi. Yadav later said he had joined the Yatra in his “individual capacity”, on the invitation of Rahul.

In December last year, Yadav also issued an appeal to parties including the BSP to unite against the BJP, again calling it his personal opinion. Mayawati has been saying that the BSP did not intend to join the INDIA bloc – despite the Congress’s keenness to include the party – as well as the NDA.

Asked about his plans for the Lok Sabha polls, Yadav declined to comment.

According to sources, at least one BSP MP was in touch with the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), before it announced its decision to join the NDA. Another BSP MP, from eastern UP, is believed to be in touch with the BJP. The MP is believed to have helped the BJP in the Ghosi Assembly bypoll last year, though the party eventually lost to the SP.

Aides of another MP who is reportedly also waiting for a confirmation from the BJP said he has started setting up a parallel organisation of workers going down to the booth level in his constituency, after waiting fruitlessly for the BSP to get in touch. This is to ensure that even if the BJP does not give him a ticket, he can contest as an Independent, the aides said.

Asked whether they were facing the same problem of the party organisation not being in touch with sitting MPs, the husband of Sangeeta Azad, the BSP MP from Lalganj, said: “Behanji (Mayawati) has her own rules and principles and she works accordingly.”

Asked whether Sangeeta will contest on the BSP symbol, Azad Arimaradan, a former MLA, dodged a direct reply, saying: “She is the whip of the party.”

Notably, the couple met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in December last year in New Delhi, with a memorandum seeking a Vande Bharat train.

Asked about his plans, BSP Ambedkar Nagar MP Ritesh Pandey said: “Right now, I am where I am. And I am awaiting the orders of my leader (Mayawati).”

A party leader said that the general opinion within the BSP was that an alliance helps the party in elections by getting it voters outside its traditional base of Jatav Dalits, and that a large section was for a tie-up with either the INDIA or NDA.

With the BSP’s electoral fortunes on the decline since 2012, its 10 seats in 2019 – marking a revival – had come in alliance with the SP and RLD. In comparison, in 2014, the BSP had drawn a blank.

After the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BSP had parted ways with the SP and fought the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls in 2022 alone. It had won just 1 seat and a vote share of just over 12%.