How Mayawati, Owaisi may make it difficult for Akhilesh in UP polls
India Today
In Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party is seen as the main opponent to the ruling BJP. However, BSP’s Mayawati and AIMIM MP from Hyderabad, Asaduddin Owaisi, could significantly complicate matters for Akhilesh Yadav in the ongoing UP polls.
Uttar Pradesh is witnessing a multi-layered assembly election in which the Samajwadi Party (SP) is being seen as the principal challenger to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati is supposedly “silent”, the Congress is fighting for existence, and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi’s party is eyeing to emerge as a new choice for Muslim voters.
The fight that Mayawati’s BSP and Owaisi’s All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen (AIMIM) are offering in certain constituencies makes the UP polls multi-cornered. Both parties bank on social engineering for electoral success.
The BSP draws political power from its Dalit vote bank and experiments by fielding candidates from other social groups fancying its chances. The AIMIM sees Muslim voters as its core constituency even as it tries to strike a chord with Dalits Bhim-Meem unity.
In Uttar Pradesh, Mayawati went solo in the assembly election. She has attempted to cobble up a new caste combination of Dalit-Muslim-Brahmin while reaching out to Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in the Uttar Pradesh election.
She has countered the charge of being “silent” to help the BJP with the claim of a “surprise result” in a repeat of 2007. Her party had won the majority in 2007 with much-debated Dalit-Brahmin social engineering.
Also Read: UP elections 2022: The BJP is strong but SP pockets may prove challenging in Phase-3
In 2022, the BSP has fielded about 90 candidates each from Dalit and Muslim communities. In fielding Dalit candidates, the BSP may not be ahead of other parties, given that 84 of the seats in the UP Assembly are reserved for the Scheduled Caste (SC) community.
