Maya to call Assembly polls in UP early?

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BSP supremo and UP chief minister Mayawati is all set to sound the poll bugle for the state’s Assembly polls, which are still two years away, by hitting the campaign trail from September this year. Although no view has been taken as yet on the advancement of the state elections. With Ms Mayawati hitting the election trail from September itself, it’s being viewed within party circles as an indication of early polls.
Also in a desperate bid to hold on to the brahmin constituency, which has been melting away from the BSP, Ms Mayawati has asked party general secretary and Rajya Sabha MP Satish Chandra Mishra, a brahmin, to resume party work.
Having demolished the Opposition parties in the state in the recent byelections, Ms Mayawati is all set to further tighten her grip in the state politics by oiling her trademark Bhaichara Samitis (individual caste fronts). To begin with she will start addressing the district level bhaichara samitis, which have been recently constituted from the booth to the district level, as part of the multi-layered strategy to gain deep foothold in caste constituencies. Also, after the much famed social engineering came crashing in the 2008 Lok Sabha elections, Ms Mayawati, sources said, has identified dalits, most backward communities, along with minorities as her target vote base.
However, the party is keeping its fingers crossed on the support of the brahmin vote base, which had joined hands with dalits to propel Ms Mayawati with an absolute majority in the Assembly in the 2007 elections. “Brahmins had moved to the Congress in the last Lok Sabha elections, while the party’s Muslim support base had also cracked. Taking note of the fact that the 2007 social engineering has melted away, Ms Mayawati will make strong bid to cement her ties with these caste groups,” stated a senior BSP functionary.
Mr Mishra, who was divested of political responsibilities in the aftermath of the July trust vote in the Lok Sabha in 2008, is back to rally the brahmins behind the BSP and would start addressing the Brahmin Bhaichara Samitis from September, added the functionary.
The party circle is also rife with speculation that Ms Mayawati could go for an early poll, after strings of victories in the recent byelections.