India Today – October 08, 2018

STATES

Achal Rajbhar has said the party will
name candidates for all the 230 seats.
Maya wati has also asked party leaders
in Rajasthan to explore the possibility of
Chhattisgarh-type alliances with other
parties, including the CPI.
Former BSP MP Jugal Kishor,
now a spokesman for the BJP, says,
“Mayawati is just trying to increasing
her bargaining power by keeping her
options open.” The BSP supremo has
publicly declared that her party was
open to an alliance with any political
partyifitwasgivenarespectableshare
of the seats in 2019. Although it did not
win a single seat in 2014, the BSP ended
up second in 34 UP constituencies.
Insiders say, for the proposed ‘common
front’, Mayawati will bargain hard for
a“minimumof50seats”.Significantly,
SPchiefAkhileshYadavhassaidhewas
ready for any sacrifice to continue the

alliance with the BSP.
In Delhi since vacating her official
residence on May 22, a recharged
Mayawati returned to her newly con-
structed mansion on Lucknow’s Mall
AvenueonSeptember15.Quicktosee
through the ruling BJP’s ploy (divide
the Dalit votebank in western UP) in
releasing Bhim Sena chief Chandra-
shekhar from jail, Mayawati summarily
rejected his overtures. After his release,
Chandrashekhar had described her as
his “bua(au nt)” w h i le h a rk i ng on t hei r
“common bloodline” and “caste”.
The BSP chief ’s response was blunt:
“I have no suchbua-bhatijarelatives,”
she declared. Mayawati knows the rise
of another Dalit leader, particularly
from her own Jatav community, would
weaken her bargaining power with the
Congress and SP.„

The Congress reformats its stratey in the

Mandal heartland to corner upper caste votes

Looking ‘Forward’

By Amitabh Srivastava

BIHAR

M

adan Mohan Jha’s appointment as the

new state unit chief on September 22

marks a strategic shift for the Congress

in Bihar. He is the first Brahmin to lead the party

since Jagannath Mishra in 1991.

There’s evidently a major game plan to the

‘bold’ decision in a state known as the backyard of

Mandal politics. The party hopes to get OBC and

Muslim votes by latching on to Lalu Prasad Yadav’s

coat-tails, while also wooing upper caste voters at

the expense of the BJP. Interestingly, it has named

Rajya Sabha member and upper caste Bhumihar

leader, Akhilesh Prasad Singh, as its campaign

committee chairman in Bihar. Jha’s appointment

comes a full year after the party high command in

Delhi removed Ashok Choudhary (a Dalit) from the

position and appointed Qaukab Qadri, a Muslim, as

working president.

The Congress ruled Bihar till the 1990s by cob-

bling together a social combination of upper castes, Dalits and Muslims. But

with regional leaders like Nitish Kumar and Lalu usurping its vote banks, the

Congress’s power and influence dwindled quickly. While Dalits and Muslims

left it for the RJD and JD(U), most upper caste voters switched to the BJP.

Now riding piggyback on Lalu’s OBC (15 per cent) and Muslim (16 per cent)

support base, the Congress hopes to make a comeback by regaining upper

caste votes–something the RJD cannot muster.

UPPER DECK

Newly-elected Bihar Congress chief Madan Mohan Jha (in

orange, seated) at his felicitation ceremony in Patna

MAYAWATI WILL

BARGAIN HARD FOR

AMINIMUMOF50SEATS

IN A COMMON FRONT IN

UTTAR PRADESH

PATNA

16

YEARS

since Congress

had a Rajya Sabha

MP from Bihar—till

Akhilesh Prasad in

March

SONU KISHAN

18 INDIA TODAY OCTOBER 8, 2018