Internal rivalries, SP-Cong tango, Akhilesh supremacy forces BJP to review UP poll strategy

Vibha Sharma
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, January 17

The Samajwadi Party-Congress tango in Uttar Pradesh and chief minister Akhilesh Yadav attaining an emerging dominant position has forced the BJP to review its poll strategy for the state.

BJP chief Amit Shah on Tuesday rescheduled the CEC meeting, holding back-to-back meetings with the senior leadership as there were intraparty rivalries on the choice of candidates for Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Punjab.   
Sources say several leaders, including Union ministers Rajnath Singh and Uma Bharti and former Uttarakhand CM BC Khanduri, are upset over the choice of candidates by the CEC on Monday, especially the tickets given to turncoats like Congress’s father-son duo Yashpal Arya and Sanjeev Arya who had crossed over to the BJP barely hours before and also the tainted leaders.
The arrival of sitting MLAs and leaders from rival parties has complicated the situation for the BJP. But its leaders defend the decision saying the winnability factor is important and tough decisions were needed to establish Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “good governance and development” model for betterment of the states. Several BSP and SP legislators holding good support are vying for saffron tickets, they claim.

Meanwhile, amid the internal party tribulations, the BJP is also faced with the threat of Akhilesh Yadav’s growing stature and the prospective alliance with the Congress and Ait Singh’s Rashtriya Lok Dal—a situation that has forced it to review afresh plans for UP, including the number of rallies that the Prime Minister will address in the state.
BJP leaders dismiss the Bihar-type “mahagathbandhan” having an effect on the party. They say that since the Prime Minister was busy with other engagements (for instance the second Raisina Dialogue) the CEC had to be re-scheduled.
BJP leader Siddharth Nath Singh says his party is not worried over its arch rivals—the SP and the Congress Party—coming together in UP. “It is for Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi to explain why his party is coming together with someone they called a failed CM. It is for Akhilesh Yadav to explain why he is going with the party that called him a failed CM.”
Dismissing the prospect of the UP grand alliance affecting the BJP in any way, he adds, “The BSP is also a player in UP. Has Mayawati also decided to join the mahagathbandhan? Any mahagathbandhan that is there in UP is between the BJP and its voters.”
However, UP developing into a Bihar-like situation (where BJP’s arch-rivals—RJD’s Lalu Prasad and JD-U’s Nitish Kumar—came together to deliver it a stunning blow) is a factor that the CEC will keep in mind while deciding the next batch of candidates for the state. 
Uttar Pradesh and its caste equations may be different from Bihar but Akhilesh emerging as a new, fresh force in the state politics is a challenge for which it has no answer so far. “Dramatic” or otherwise, UP developments have fortified the image of Akhilesh and made the BJP’s lack of a CM face in Uttar Pradesh even more prominent. The added-on strength of the Congress and the RLD reinforcing the SP’s Muslim-Yadav vote base is another worry.
Learning from Bihar, the BJP has taken care not to sideline local leaders in UP. But the exercise of involving the local leadership in parivartan yatras would end up as a wasted exercise if they are not rewarded with tickets. Shah has been holding deliberations with party leaders to narrow down differences over candidates and evolve a consensus. Having pulled out all stops to ensure success in UP, Shah has also tied up with two regional parties--the Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party and Apna Dal--to maximise gains.