Mission 2024:Maya in denial mode again even as top Oppn leader says doors not closed on anyone

Lucknow: Despite Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati’s umpteen denials to side with neither the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-led-NDA nor the Congress-backed opposition alliance, both aren’t ready to give up on her, underscoring her importance for them in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls .

On Wednesday, BSP chief Mayawati again denied a fresh buzz, driven by a section of the media which was centred around Samajwadi Party (SP) chief general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav’s reported efforts to broker an arrangement for Maya’s entry into the opposition alliance. She also questioned SP’s silence on the buzz.

Yet, Bihar’s ruling JD (U)’s chief strategist KC Tyagi, a close aide of the state’s chief minister Nitish Kumar, told HT that for them their doors weren’t closed on anyone though he also added that it was for Mayawati to take a call on where she sought to position herself in 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

“Our doors aren’t closed on anyone. All those who want to help replace this BJP government at the Centre are welcome and this holds true for Mayawatiji too. She alone must decide her position in these elections,” Tyagi said. He said closer to Lok Sabha polls and after the assembly elections in five states, he expected more parties to join hands.

“I think as of now, many (party leaders) are afraid that the enforcement directorate, income tax department and CBI would be unleashed on them. So just wait and watch, closer to the polls the real scenario would unfold,” he said without elaborating on if his description of such leaders included Mayawati too.

Tyagi also said that the Congress alone would not be able to take a call on Maya’s entry into the opposition alliance as Samajwadi Party was the major impact player in UP.

Many of BJP’s allies like SBSP chief Om Prakash Rajbhar and Nishad party leader and UP minister Sanjay Nishad, who were mentored by BSP founder Kanshiram, told HT that Maya’s nonaligned status would help the BJP.

However, the Ghosi by-poll experience, where BJP candidate Dara Singh suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the SP in an election from which the BSP kept out, has now made many squirm at the thought of the BSP’s non-aligned push.

But some see method in Maya’s approach.

Mayawati, a four-time UP chief minister and ex-Lok Sabha MP besides three terms in the Rajya Sabha (1994, 2004, 2012), has seen her political fortunes slide from a high of 2007, when she formed a government on her own, to the 80-seat nosedive in 2012 when she conceded political space to Samajwadi Party and to an even more embarrassing 19 seats in 2017, though her worst performance was in 2022 UP polls when she won just a solitary seat. In July, she gave a hint of her ‘go solo’ strategy when she appealed to the weaker sections of society to elect a “majboor (helpless)” government – something that her mentor and BSP founder Kanshiram used to state.

The “majboor” government call is based on the premise that unlike a “mazboot (strong)” one, such a government would always be dependent on support, making the BSP politically relevant. “Majboor sarkar won’t be able to harass the weaker sections,” she said, apparently to woo her lost voters and political ground.

“She is eager to win her lost voters back and maybe she is even preparing for a post poll scenario if elections throw up a ‘majboor’ government,” felt Irshad Ilmi, a political expert.

In April, when she fielded 11 Muslims out of the 17 mayoral candidates in the urban local body polls and followed this with a demand for reservation for backward Muslims in July, this also showcased her desire to woo Muslims, considered the mainstay of the Samajwadi Party.

Having won 10 Lok Sabha seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls that she contested with the Samajwadi Party and the RLD, Maya, so far has resisted offers to join either of the parties.

“But you never know what might happen? In politics, what appears on the surface isn’t necessarily the obvious thing. Politics is all about possibilities and so yes, anything is possible,” a senior OBC leader from the Samajwadi Party said.

WHAT MAYA SAID

“There are reports attributed to Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav about the BSP joining the opposition I.N.D.I.A. alliance that were aired by a news channel. This is completely fake news. I don’t know why the media is out to spoil its credibility? Or is it that it is all an agenda-driven exercise?” Maya posted on X, formerly twitter.

“Also, what is surprising is that there is no denial of these reports by the SP. Doesn’t this show its pathetic state in UP? Or the fact that it (SP) could be part of the same dirty conspiracy against the BSP? Party cadre should remain cautious of such fake news,” she added.