With a section of the UP BJP leaders now getting increasingly vocal about forging a post-poll alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party, voices of resentment in the party are also becoming louder.
According to party sources, at least three top UP BJP leaders have suggested that the party should be “open” to a post-poll alliance with the BSP in UP. Speaking at a recent meeting of the party’s core committee on UP elections, these leaders felt that if the BJP stayed away from power in the 2012 elections, it would ‘“demoralise the cadres”.
One of the three leaders, however, said that the BJP should assert itself this time and demand the chief minister’s post in the first round if the alliance is forged.
“These three leaders were very vocal about going with the BSP without realising that it could spell doom for the BJP in UP. Each time we have allied with the BSP, the party’s base has shrunk. One more alliance and we will lose ground in UP for the next 20 years,” said another leader who had openly opposed the proposal in the meeting. A section of the BJP leadership in UP has always been on cordial terms with UP chief minister Mayawati even when the party has been bitterly opposed to the BSP.
“We have told the party high command that if the BJP wants to go with BSP, we should be informed of the decision so that we can look for our options. We certainly do not want to end up an as appendage of the BSP in UP. Besides, why should be voters vote for us if we have to support a Mayawati–led government? They might as well vote directly for the BSP,” the leader said.
Party sources said that more than a dozen sitting MLAs have decided to refuse a BJP ticket if the party shows an inclination towards the BSP.