Congress tries to weaken Mayawati’s hold on Dalits

(This article was originally published by The Economic Times on 15/03/2019.)
New Delhi:With BSP supremo Mayawati ruling out any alliance with Congress in any state, the latter has become aggressive in targeting BSP’s voter base.
Mayawati had made it clear on Tuesday that there shall be no alliance with Congress in any state, forget UP, ending any hope of Congress leadership to seal a deal with BSP and SP in the last moment.
The very next day, Priyanka Gandhi visited Bhim Army leader Chandra Shekhar Azad in a hospital in Meerut. While Gandhi said there was no political motive behind the meeting, Congress leaders privately accepted it was a message to Mayawati.
“She (Mayawati) is not the only one who can get Dalit votes,” a UP Congress leader told ET. “We will try our best to get Dalits on our side as we did in the recent assembly elections of MP, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.”
People familiar with the matter told ET that Congress is preparing a list of miffed BSP leaders who are not getting party tickets for the upcoming polls, and will try to attract them into the party fold.
Congress’ first list of candidates for UP also indicates that the party wants to damage BSP as much as it can. A number of the candidates had contested Lok Sabha elections on BSP ticket last time. They include Kaisar Jahan in Sitapur and Brij Lal Khabri in Jalaun, both of whom had contested 2014 elections in BSP ticket and have joined Congress recently.
In Agra, Congress plans to field Kunwar Chand Vakil, who had contested the 2009 elections in BSP ticket, sources said.
Several BSP leaders, too, have joined Congress in recent times. On Wednesday, BSP leaders Ajay Srivastava and Faujdar Prasad joined Congress in Lucknow. Srivastava had contested the 2017 assembly elections from Lucknow North on a BSP ticket. Prasad was BSP LS candidate from Lalganj in 1991.
BSP is likely to give ticket to Haji Yakub Qureshi in Meerut. Former Meerut MP Shahid Akhlak, who contested in BSP ticket in 2014, is miffed and, according to sources, has met Congress general secretary in-charge of west UP Jyotiraditya Scindia in Delhi on Wednesday. He is likely to join Congress to challenge Qureshi.
The biggest worry for Mayawati is the Dalit vote bank, especially Jatav votes. In the recent assembly elections in neighbouring states, Congress got more Dalit votes than BSP. In UP, too, Congress is trying to make inroads into BSP core voters of Jatavs.
In Nagina Lok Sabha constituency, where Jatavs are in good number, Congress has fielded Omwati, a strong Jatav candidate. Omwati was a minister in Mayawati’s cabinet who later joined the BJP in 2014.