In Bihar, BJP’s UP ally SBSP keen to back BSP, Mayawati demurs
At a rally in Kaimur, Mayawati says alliance partners never transferred votes to the BSP in the past.
The BSP would also support the SBSP in return, he added, putting the number of such constituencies where the SBSP has candidates but not the BSP at 12. (Express Photo) 
As BSP chief Mayawati held her first rally for the Bihar Assembly elections, at Kaimur on Thursday, the Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party (SBSP), an ally of the BJP in Uttar Pradesh, announced that it would support the BSP in 38 seats in Bihar where it is not contesting. However, Mayawati told her supporters at Kaimur that her party was contesting the Bihar Assembly polls “all alone with all our strength”, rejecting any suggestion of a formal alliance with any party.
“At the very outset, I would like to say something about my party in Bihar. We are contesting all alone with all our strength. We have decided to contest alone because of our past experience of alliance,” Mayawati said at the rally.
“Whenever we contested in alliance, our party transferred our Dalit votes to other parties. But because of the caste mindset of the others, their vote did not come to us. Instead, it went to upper caste candidates of other parties,” the former chief minister said, adding that “such alliances” led to the reduction in BSP’s vote share.
Even as the BSP supremo has ruled out any alliance, it emerges that there could be some kind of “understanding” between the two parties at the local level.
“It is not an alliance, but support at the local level for their (BSP) candidates. Since we are not contesting some of the seats, we thought it would be proper to support the BSP candidates at the local level,” SBSP spokesperson Arun Rajbhar told The Indian Express.
Arun Rajbhar is the son of SBSP chief Om Prakash Rajbhar, who is a minister in the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh.
BSP leader Anil Kumar, who is the party’s state in-charge of Bihar, told The Indian Express, “It is not an alliance. They (SBSP leaders) offered support to our candidates at the local level as they thought that our candidates stand a better chance, and we welcome it. But this is not an alliance.”
Asked if the BSP would offer the same support to the SBSP candidates where it is not contesting, he said, “To my knowledge, there are just two such seats where the SBSP is contesting, and the local BSP units will take a call on it.”
In the 2020 Bihar Assembly polls, the BSP contested 78 seats, forfeiting its deposit in 73, and winning 1 constituency. It got on average 4.66% of the votes in constituencies it contested. A year after the results, the lone BSP MLA, Jama Khan from the Chainpur Assembly constituency, joined the JD(U) and was made a minister in the state government.
The SBSP contested just two seats in Bihar in 2020, and hardly made any impact.
When asked about its impact on SBSP’s current alliance with the BJP in Uttar Pradesh, Rajbhar said his party’s alliance with the BJP in UP was “different and intact” and would not be impacted. “We are a part of the NDA there. In Bihar, we are contesting separately and should be viewed independently. Here in Bihar, it is the opinion of our local unit that we should align with the BSP, and their sentiments were taken into account before announcing our support.”
Despite Rajbhar’s denial, all eyes are now on how this alliance unfolds post-Bihar polls, particularly in the 2027 UP elections. The BSP is trying to get together its trademark Dalit votes, apart from that of Muslims and backwards, and the SBSP, with its Rajbhar vote, fits well into the plan.
In the 2022 UP Assembly polls, the BSP contested all 403 seats and won just 1, Rasra in Ballia district. The SBSP contested 19 seats, winning 6. When the BJP returned to power, SBSP chief Om Prakash Rajbhar was made a minister.
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