An interesting and twisted scenario is unfolding in Uttar Pradesh (UP) as Mayawati leads the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) to contest all nine assembly seats in the upcoming by-polls on 13 November. While BSP was not able to win a single seat in the recently held Lok Sabha elections, following the feedback of its core Dalit votes shifting to other parties. Now BSP supremo Mayawati is trying to get back to the roots and redraw the party’s bahujan strategy. Once again, she’s labelling the BJP and the Congress as enemies of Dalits. BSP president Mayawati on October 29, 2024 said both parties, under the garb of being Dalit-friendly, were involved in a conspiracy to make reservation ineffective. The four-time former Uttar Pradesh chief minister took to social media to express concern over the new system of sub-reservation for Dalits implemented by the BJP government in Haryana and the Congress governments in Telangana and Karnataka. 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, but to also win back the nearly 21 per cent Dalit vote, 12 per cent of this being Jatav, which is Mayawati’s caste.
CONGRESS LETS ALLY SP CONTEST ALL SEATS IN UP ASSEMBLY BYPOLLS
The Congress decision of not contesting the forthcoming bypolls, leaving all the seats to ally Samajwadi Party came as a great surprise not only to the outsiders, but also many within the organisation. The Congress feels that by letting the Samajwadi Party have the upper hand in Uttar Pradesh, it can argue against conceding seats in Maharashtra, particularly since it did well there in the Lok Sabha election, winning 13 seats to emerge as the largest single party. On the other hand, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav stressed the alliance was not based on seat-sharing math, but on the imperative to eat into the BJP’s sizeable lead in the UP Assembly. The SP leader said that youth were not getting jobs, the reservation system was being tampered with and the Constitution was being weakened. Slamming the BJP over the ‘batenge toh katenge’ statement of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Akhilesh Yadav said the ruling party was frightened by the unity of PDA (pichhda, Dalit, alpsankhyak) people. Meanwhile SP, BJP, and BSP have taken the caste equation into consideration for ticket distribution. On most seats, the core strategy of the three parties is the same. SP (considering it has the support of Muslims and Yadavs) has fielded OBC and Dalit candidates; BSP (considering it has the support of Dalits) has fielded Brahmin, Baniya, Muslim, Kurmi candidates; and the BJP/NDA (considering it has support of ‘upper castes’) has fielded Dalit, OBC candidates.
ACTOR VIJAY LAUNCHES PARTY, SAYS IT’S PERIYAR WITHOUT ‘ANTI-GOD’ STANCE
Tamil actor-turned-politician C. Joseph Vijay had launched his party Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) at a mega rally in Villuppuram district of Tamil Nadu on October 27, 2024 in an apparent attempt to contest the next Assembly polls. Addressing the TVK conclave, Vijay targeted both the BJP-led central government and the DMK-led state government, indicating his party’s anti-caste, secular ideology while asserting that “Dravidam and nationalism are the two eyes of our ideology”. He said his party would embrace the ideology of Tamil icons like Periyar, but without “the anti-God position”. Vijay’s political debut comes at a time when Tamil Nadu, a state with renowned temples, is seeing a revival in religious sentiments. The BJP, led by former IPS officer Annamalai in Tamil Nadu, was trying to tap into that. It even escalated its vote share.
PRIYANKA AIMS FOR WAYANAD VICTORY, FOLLOWS IN RAHUL’S FOOTSTEPS
The Congress is making all efforts to ensure a grand victory for party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra from the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency in Kerala. In her canvassing, Priyanka is mainly aiming and raising various people’s issues such as farmers’ problems or rehabilitation of the Wayanad landslides’ victims. Priyanka, who drew massive crowds when she arrived to file her nomination, has proved wrong sceptics, who assume that the Gandhi family’s charm is on the wane or faded in Kerala. During her public rally in Panamaram, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said, “During one of the most difficult times of him (Rahul Gandhi), you, people of Wayanad stood by him. It is you who stood by the democracy of the country…each one of you, your votes gave him strength, courage and bravery to walk from one end of this nation to other in the name of peace and brotherhood.” On the other hand, Congress leadership has appointed the party coordinators for each of the seven Assembly segments in Wayanad, who include Idukki MP Dean Kuriakose, Kasaragod MP Rajmohan Unnithan, Peravoor MLA Sunny Joseph, Kozhikode MP M K Raghavan, Karunagappally MLA C R Mahesh, Ernakulam MP Hibi Eden and Pathanamthitta MP Anto Antony. Priyanka is pitted against the CPI’s Sathyan Mokeri and BJP candidate Navya Haridas, who is a local councillor and has a long association with the Sangh Parivar. The constituency has about 43% Muslims, 13% Christians, 10% tribals, and 7% Dalits. It is considered to be among the safest Lok Sabha seats for the Congress in the country. Priyanka is expected to camp in Wayanad in coming days. This by-election follows Rahul Gandhi’s resignation from the Wayanad seat after his massive success in Raebareli. Polling is set for November 13.
BJP CRITICISES DELHI’S AAP GOVERNMENT FOR NOT JOINING AYUSHMAN BHARAT
BJP MPs from Delhi took a step and filed a writ petition in Delhi High Court against the AAP government for not joining the Ayushman Bharat health insurance scheme. Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva criticised AAP and its national convener Arvind Kejriwal for depriving lakhs of eligible people of Centre’s scheme. While PM Modi had on Tuesday criticised government of Delhi and West Bengal for not carrying out and implementing the scheme, which triggered a verbal war between BJP and AAP. However, AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal and his party colleagues alleged that the Ayushman Bharat scheme was layered with corruption. They compared it to Delhi’s healthcare regime that also grants public funds to patients to get treated in private hospitals. (IPA Service)
Kerala By-Election Scene: CPI-M Has Edge In Chelakkara, Palakkad 