In what can be termed as a major setback to the Congress party, Mayawati has snubbed the Congress in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. On Thursday, in Madhya Pradesh, BSP unilaterally declared the list of 22 candidates for the upcoming state assembly elections. The announcement is of immense importance as the names of announced candidates are from the constituencies where the BSP is influential- Vindhya and Gwalior region.
In another major development, the BSP declared to contest upcoming Chhattisgarh state assembly elections in coalition with Ajit Jogi’s Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (JCC-J). BSP supremo also made it very clear that if the government of the BSP- JCC comes to power then Ajit Jogi will be the Chief Minister candidate.
In Chhattisgarh, the BSP will contest on 35 seats and JCC will fight on remaining 55 seats. One of the reasons why BSP decided to go with JCC is perhaps the Congress party was not willing to give more than 5 seats to the BSP. In Madhya Pradesh also, the Congress was only willing to extend support on only 10 to 15 seats to the BSP. According to a New Indian Express report, the BSP also declared that it would go solo in Madhya Pradesh and contest on all 230 seats. If the BSP decides to go alone in MP then it would be depressing news for the Congress as the former has secured 6.29% vote share in 2013 state assembly elections and also Dalits comprise 15.2% population of the state.
The pre-poll alliance between the BSP-JCC is seen as a major setback to the dreams of the Grand Old Party which had been trying to throw BJP out of power which has been ruling the state since last 15 years. In fact, former Congress leader and now the CM candidate of BSP-JCC alliance- Ajit Jogi-trying to turn the assembly elections into a triangular contest and any such contest is most likely to benefit the BJP as it will cut the votes of the Congress. In Chhattisgarh, even shift of 1% votes can change the equations drastically.
This denial of Mayawati to come up with the Congress party is a big blow to the basic idea of united opposition against the BJP. The ego issues and self-interests of each and every party are coming in the way of opposition unity. The Congress refused to form an alliance with the BSP in the Rajasthan, which goes on to show that they are not on board with the united opposition. It’s just a glimpse of the selfish nature of Congress. They want Mayawati and her party only where it could be beneficial and this is one of the reasons behind the BSP’s unwillingness to form an alliance with the Congress in Madhya Pradesh.
Things are quite clear but still, the Darbari media is indulged in creating nonsense conspiracy theories to save the ‘clown prince’ who had messed up another alliance.
Bjp has reportedly offered #Mayawati deputy pm if she does not join alliance.. .she does not believe them and knows ultimately the plan is to diminish her further…
But she's unpredictable and is going to drive tough bargain either way..
— Saba Naqvi (@_sabanaqvi) September 20, 2018
If in near future, Mayawati might break ties with the SP in UP then Darbari media would say that BJP offered her post of deputy PM to do so. It is a new nascent field of journalism which is called justification and explanation journalism where darbari media and Lutyens’ media justify each and every stupid act of ‘clown prince’ and also provide hundreds of explanations. These are the unofficial spokesperson of their political masters.