BSP to go it alone in MP, UP, Bihar

The list of candidates for all the 85 seats in UP has already been finalised with 20 seats each being given to most backward communities, backward communities, Muslims and scheduled castes and five reserved, he said.

Kanshi Ram said that in Haryana, his party will have seat adjustments with Haryana Vikas Party of Bansi Lal, who resigned as chief minister on Wednesday, while it will align with the Tohra faction of the Akali Dal in Punjab. The CPI and CPI-M will also be part of the poll tie-up in Punjab, he added.

Claiming that the BSP had the largest vote bank in Uttar Pradesh, he hoped the party willtake the lion’s share of the 85 seats from the state.

“Results will speak for themselves,” he said when asked whether going it alone in UP would harm the electoral prospects of the party.

About Rajasthan, Kanshi Ram said the jat community, which comprises 13 per cent of the total population, had assured to back the BSP during the elections.

The Rajasthan Jat Mahasabha, irked over Congress’ alleged failure to include the community in the OBC list as promised in 1993 election manifesto, will work with the BSP during the polls, he said, adding that the mahasabha and the BSP will organise a mass rally in Jaipur on August 1.

He said his party will also have seat adjustments with the Telugu Desam faction led by NTR’s son Hari Krishna for assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh. “We have no base in the south. Now we are aiming to do that,” he said adding that the BSP will contest around 30 assembly seats in AP.

The BSP supremo criticised all political parties, including Congress and BJP, for making andbreaking promises to garner votes and said the people should unite to throw out such parties.

About recent developments in the Janata Dal, he said the party was slowly getting `eliminated’ and that the unification of a Dal faction with Lok Shakti and Samata Party was aimed at preventing de-recognition of the JD at the national level.

Asked whether he would contest the Lok Sabha elections, Kanshi Ram quipped “Mera kaam ladna nahin, ladana hai (my job is not to contest but make others fight elections).”