Intact MBC support explains Mayawati’s choice of Azamgarh for rally II

NEW DELHI: Former chief minister Mayawati, who is keen on regaining her party’s old base in Uttar Pradesh, is all set to hold her next rally at politically significant Azamgarh (east UP) on October 24. The BSP national president had virtually launched her party’s campaign for the 2019 LS polls from Meerut on September 18. The Azamgarh rally is politically significant for BSP as the party had won four seats from this district in the 2017 assembly polls.
It has a total 19 seats in the current 403-member UP assembly. Incidentally, Samajwadi party patriarch and former CM Mulayam Singh Yadav represents Azamgarh in Lok Sabha. BJP could win only one seat out of the total 10 assembly constituencies in Azamgarh in the 2017 LS polls. So, Azamgarh is still politically significant for both of UP’s traditional political rivals –– BSP and SP –– and thus, all eyes would be on Mayawati’s speech at the Azamgarh rally.

“BSP sti ll enjoys a support base among a section of the Most Backward Castes (MBC) here. She may keep her eye on SP’s Muslim vote-bank in this region,” a source in BSP said. Sources in BSP said Mayawati has asked her party functionaries to ensure representation of party workers from three divisions — Azamgarh, Gorakhpur and Varanasi –– at her Azamgarh ral ly. “This region, comprising Azamgarh, Gorakhpur and Varanasi, send about 65 MLAs to the state assembly.

In the 2017 assembly polls, BJP was successful in expanding its social base among MBC voters in east UP. So, BSP’s task is to regain its support base among MBC voters,” another source said explaining the significance of BSP’s Azamgarh rally. BSP has already engaged its cadres in this region to get party workers/sympathisers to attend Mayawati’s Azamgarh rally.

“Initially, Behanji (as former CM Mayawati is referred to) had fixed October 18 as the date for her Azamgarh rally. Later, she changed the date because of Diwali (October 19),” another source in BSP told ET. BSP leaders are currently holding meetings of two sectors in one day.

“In our organisation, one sector comprises 10 booths. Our party leaders from the district units concerned attend the meetings of sector committees. They underline the importance of the rally for the party at all such meetings,” the source replied to a query.