EVEN AS Prime Minister Narendra Modi led the offensive against his opponents in the state in the run-up to the UP polls, the focus of his attack remained the SP-Congress alliance. BSP and its chief Mayawati were only mentioned in passing, like when he used the word ‘SCAM’ (SP, Congress, Akhilesh Yadav and Mayawati) and called BSP ‘Behenji Sampatti Party’. Watch What Else Is Making News Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav too had made only passing remarks against Mayawati in his speeches — he mostly referred to her as ‘bua’ and spoke about her ‘pathharwali sarkar’. His main focus was Modi and BJP. Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi did not even once mention Mayawati in his speeches. On the other hand, Mayawati tried to make it a direct fight between BSP and BJP, as she tried to poach SP’s Muslim support by fielding 100 nominees from the community. While she focused on Modi and BJP, she only mentioned SP as having “weakened and incapable of defeating the BJP” in passing. The same approach was adopted by the BJP in its 2014 Lok Sabha campaign when BSP was rarely mentioned by Modi in his speeches. The next year, on January 15 — on her 60th birthday — Mayawati claimed that her party was best suited to return to power in UP, arguing that only it could provide “safety to citizens” and “security of religious freedom”. The same day, BJP had inducted Jugul Kishore, then BSP Rajya Sabha MP and one-time close aide of Mayawati. He had called Mayawati “daulat ki beti” and accused her of selling party tickets, beginning the BJP’s over-an-year-long plan to portray the BSP as weak and imploding. The strategy was crucial for BJP’s rise in the state, as the BSP had weaned away most of its Brahmin support base in the 2012 Assembly elections. Moreover, the BJP also started to focus on non-Yadav OBCs and non-Jatav Dalits who were likely to side with BSP in case they were disenchanted with the ruling SP. As 2017 elections drew closer, BJP started inducting BSP leaders one after another, including BSP general secretary Swami Prasad Maurya and founder-member R K Chaudhary — both of whom quit BSP after accusing Mayawati of “selling party tickets”. BJP’s performance on Saturday will depend on whether it has been successful in its strategy. Though all exit polls showed BSP getting less than 100 seats and being relegating to the third place behind BJP and SP-Congress alliance, party sources said the findings are “unconvincing”. On Friday, no preparations were being made at the BSP state headquarters in Lucknow. While Mayawati stayed home, most leaders were in their constituencies. Rajya Sabha MP and party’s zonal coordinator, Munquad Ali, said whether exit polls were “correct or not will be clear on Saturday”.
