Small could be powerful

• APNA DAL is the party of Kurmis, an upwardly mobile backward farming community. Founded by Sone Lal Patel in 1995 after breaking off with BSP leader Mayawati, it fielded 351 candidates in the last assembly polls; of them, three were elected. They first defected to the BSP when Mayawati became chief minister with BJP support and later crossed over to back Mulayam Singh Yadav’s government. Patel then joined hands with Bharatiya Janashakti leader Uma Bharati, but dumped her later. He has an electoral understanding with JD(U) for the upcoming UP polls. Both are currently holding parleys with the BJP for a seat adjustment. Once a bitter critic of BJP, Patel is cagey about a tie-up with the saffron party. “Anything can happen in politics,” he argues.

• BHARATIYA SAMAJ PARTY is a Rajbhar community outfit headed by Om Prakash Rajbhar. He was nominated the state president of Jan Morcha by the V.P. Singh-Raj Babbar combine last year, but soon parted company with them. Congress general secretary Ashok Gehlot and UP Congress president Salman Khursheed attended a rally jointly organised by him in July 2006 and Rashtriya Samanata Dal of Moti Lal Shastri at Chandauli in July to get a feel of their mass base. Thereafter, they invited him to New Delhi for discussions. He met with Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, but nothing emerged. Busy working out an alliance of small parties now, Rajbhar has unpleasant memories of dealing with big Congress leaders. “They are all big people, why talk about them,” he says sarcastically when asked about chances of an understanding with Congress. His key demand is the grant of Scheduled Caste status for Rajbhars, concentrated in Mirzapur, Azamgarh, Allahabad and Faizabad areas.

• RASHTRIYA SAMANATA DAL is a Kushwaha party. The community has other variants like Saini, Baghban, Shakya and Maurya. Formed by Moti Lal Shastri, a farmer leader of the Varanasi area in 2000, it espouses the cause of the most backward communities vis-a-vis the more advanced caste groups in the OBCs. Shastri is trying to secure the backing of the community spread out in eastern and western UP.

• NATIONAL LOKTANTRIK PA-RTY has been floated by former minister Masood Ahmed to propagate the idea of “equal partnership” for Muslims in power. He has an ambitious plan to put up its candidates in at least 130 constituencies. “We will put up more more Hindus than Muslims,” he says, emphasising “we stand for a fair share for all in proportion to their numbers.” He foresees an alliance of small parties to end the domination of the big parties.