BSP as evident was not able to attain a single seat in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections following reports of its core Dalit votes shifting to other parties. Now BSP supremo Mayawati is trying to go back to the basics and redraw the party’s bahujan strategy. She even decided to contest the assembly bypoll in nine seats of Uttar Pradesh (UP) in a break from the past, but the party could neither win a seat nor make the contest triangular. After these losses, Mayawati blamed electoral malpractice and asserted that until the Election Commission addresses these issues, the BSP will not contest any bypoll in the country. The BSP is set to launch its expansion drive on 15 January 2025 and has opened its doors to the former leaders. The party has also decided to rope in the All India Backward and Minority Communities Employees Federation (BAMCEF). However, the challenge before the party, therefore, is not only to win back Brahmin, Muslim, and non-Yadav backward class votes, a strategy that propelled it to power in 2007 assembly polls but to also win back the nearly 21 per cent Dalit vote, 12 per cent of this being Jatav, which is Mayawati’s caste.
LEADING PARTNERS OF INDIA BLOC UNHAPPY WITH THE CONGRESS PARTY’S FUNCTIONING
Cracks in the Opposition ranks were bared when key INDIA bloc partner Trinamool Congress (TMC) refused attending the bloc’s meeting or protests since the winter session of parliament began on November 25. However, the Samajwadi Party leaders including Akhilesh Yadav and Dimple Yadav joined the INDIA bloc walkout in Lok Sabha over the Uttar Pradesh Police’s action of stopping Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi from visiting Sambhal. According to sources, Akhilesh also is not happy with the Congress over the new seat allotment in Lok Sabha. In the earlier seat arrangement, Akhilesh used to occupy the seat adjacent to Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi. Now, Yadav has been assigned a seat away from Congress leaders. On the other hand, Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which had entered into a limited seat-sharing agreement with the Congress during the Lok Sabha polls in Delhi, Haryana and Gujarat, has made it clear that it will not revive the alliance for the upcoming Delhi Assembly polls even though its Rajya Sabha MP, Raghav Chaddha, regularly attends INDIA bloc meetings called by Kharge in Parliament. Meanwhile, the recent Saamna editorial, which squarely placed the responsibility on the Congress for keeping the alliance united, came at a time when the Maha Vikas Aghadi’s (as the alliance of INDIA partners Congress, NCP-SP and SS-UBT is called in Maharashtra) unexpected electoral rout in Maharashtra has led to calls by members of Thackeray’s party to end its alliance with the Congress and return to the party’s Hindutva pitch with renewed zeal.
ALL POLITICAL PARTIES IN BIHAR RESORT TO YATRAS IN VIEW OF ASSEMBLY POLLS NEXT YEAR
With the Bihar Assembly elections scheduled to be conducted next year in October-November, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is prepared for yatras to reach out to voters. Kumar will set off on his 15th such yatra since 2005, named Mahila Samvad Yatra, on December 15. However, Nitish Kumar, who is upbeat after the recent bypoll results in the state in which the NDA won all the four seats, will interact the women voters starting from Valmikinagar in West Champaran district. During his yatra, he is likely to interact with women, jivikadidis and review the progress of the government’s seven-resolve programmes. On the other hand, the Rashtriya Janata Dal’s Tejashwi Yadav had started the third phase of his Karyakarta Darshan-Sah-Samwad Yatra’, which began in Munger district on December 4 and he announced that the Mahagathbandhan would provide 200 units of free electricity to consumers if it comes to power after next year’s assembly polls — a move being described as a major political gamble. He had halted the yatra last month due to prominent Hindu festivals and bypolls to four assembly seats in the state.. Bihar has been known for political yatras of all hues in the election year. They are the most reliable vehicle to flex political muscles. All major political parties experiment with them. BJP leader and Union minister Giriraj Singh had also carried out Hindu Swabhiman Yatra. CPI-ML’s Badlo Bihar Nyay Yatra, Vikassheel Insan Party (VIP) chief Mukesh Sahani’s Nishad Sankalp Yatra also took place few months ago.
BJP FOLLOWS THE AAP AGENDA ON FREEBIES IN ITS PRE-POLL PROMISES
With a focus on assembly elections, AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal intensified his efforts to mobilise grassroots volunteers, urging them to inform the public about the Delhi govt’s free schemes. The Pink tickets offer women free rides in over 4,000 state-run buses in Delhi. The Aam Aadmi Party had made travelling for women in DTC and cluster buses free in 2019, just ahead of the 2020 assembly elections, with an aim to make bus rides safer and more accessible to women. Recently, the Delhi government achieved a milestone of issuing 150 crore pink tickets to allow women to travel in city buses for free. The BJP announced that it will maintain the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government’s initiatives, including free electricity for the first 200 units, water subsidies, and complimentary bus rides for women, if it wins power in the upcoming Delhi assembly elections. Meanwhile, AAP termed the BJP’s promises election jumlas, alleging that if it comes to power, it would discontinue the services like free bus rides to women and the electricity subsidy plan.
AKHILESH YADAV’S DAUGHTER ADITI ACTIVE IN STUDENT POLITICS IN DELHI UNIVERSITY
After making a remarkable entry into the Delhi University’s student’s politics, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav’s daughter Aditi Yadav inaugurated the Campus Law Centre’s union office on Thursday. SP backed candidate Uday Yadav won the presidential post at the Campus Law Centre. This was the first public programme outside Uttar Pradesh for Aditi, who had campaigned for her mother Dimple Yadav in the Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat earlier this year. The buzz is that Aditi is likely to venture into politics in the future. (IPA Service)
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