UP chief minister and BSP supremo Mayawati is gearing up to the prospect of the RLD and Congress coming together for the 2012 state Assembly elections and is seeking to sell the development plank in the western UP region to consolidate non-jat voters in favour of her party.
Ms Mayawati will be setting off on a whirlwind tour of the western UP to impress upon the people benefits of three new districts in the region. The BSP supremo is scheduled to visit Hapur, Shaymli and Sambhal, all three new districts, on Wednesday to drive home the point that the government would be much nearer to them than earlier.
The BSP chief is reportedly keenly watching political fallout of the Congress and RLD striking a seat adjustment for the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections. The BSP had won a large number of Assembly seats from the western UP in the 2007 Assembly elections by winning support of the dalits and Muslims.
However, BSP functionaries are examining prospects of the Muslim-jat consolidation in favour of the RLD-Congress combine after a tie up.
The party leaders are also looking into the likely impact of the padyatra of Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi in the western UP and prospects of the land acquisition controversy becoming an election issue.
“The BSP is banking on the core support base (dalits) in the region. The state government under the leadership of Ms Mayawati has taken several initiatives to make administrative responsive to the needs of the people along with setting up a dedicated police set up specifically for the region,” said a BSP functionary.
The party leaders said that the BSP supremo would be reaching out to people in the region more frequently to avert any pitfalls of the likely Congress-RLD electoral tie up.