Agenda: To distance from past alliance with Maya

The BJP first helped Mayawati form a government with its support in 1995. In 1997,Mayawati became the chief minister for a second time with the help of a BSP-BJP alliance. Again,2002 saw the formation of a BJP-BSP government headed by Mayawati. This has led to the alienation of the BJP’s core voters and confusion among cadres.

Unlike the BJP,the Samajwadi Party joined hands with the BSP to form a government in 1993,for the first and last occasion. The Congress,too,did not repeat the “mistake” of forming an alliance with the BSP in 1996.

Sources in the BJP said the party was considering to adopt an unequivocal resolution stating it will never support the BSP in the event of a hung assembly after the election. “The resolution may even add the BJP would prefer a mid-term poll in such an eventuality’,” said sources.

BJP spokesperson H N Dixit said the party had “a very bad experience’’ with Mayawati. “Now,despite having majority of her own,she has failed to do justice with the people. We will assure voters that we will have no deal with her in future”,he said,but refused to elaborate how they will send out a clear message to voters.

The BJP has selected Lucknow as the venue for the national executive meeting after a gap of about five years. The party’s national executive had last met in Lucknow in 2006 just before the last assembly elections which the BSP won. An important feature of the 2007 assembly elections was that Brahmins and many other upper-caste voters had ditched the BJP and crossed over to the BSP. “BSP-BJP combines were formed to bring together the upper and the lower castes. This is what exactly Mayawati’s social engineering did without BJP’s help. If Brahmins don’t break away from the BSP in the 2012 elections,the BJP will have a very serious crisis and it will have a bearing on the Lok Sabha elections of 2014,” a BJP leader explained the party’s predicament.

Another important issue that the national executive will have to confront is a possible future role for Uma Bharti in UP. Sources said most senior leaders agree that she could be an asset in UP where the party does not have any popular OBC face since the departure of Kalyan Singh.

Although Vinay Katiyar and legislature party leader Om Prakash Singh are OBC leaders,neither has much popular appeal. On the other hand,Uma Bharti is more articulate,aggressive and has a popular appeal which can help the BJP regain much of the lost ground in Bundelkhand,which is adjacent to her state Madhya pradesh.

But she is also an abrasive personality. The executive will have to decide whether Uma Bharti should have a role in UP and,if yes,will have to define it,too. Already,the party has divided the state in six zones,namely Awadh,Goraksh,Kashi,Braj,Paschim and Kanpur for the purpose of elections. The executive may give the charge of each region to a senior leader to keep dissensions under check and motivate the cadres.