UP elections: Mayawati on sticky wicket as SP stands to gain in Poorvanchal

LUCKNOW/SULTANPUR: Despite having given maximum number of tickets to both Brahmins and Muslims to breathe new life into its social engineering in 2007 that catapulted the party to power in Uttar Pradesh , Mayawati seemed on a sticky wicket as campaigning ended for 56 seats in Poorvanchal on Monday .

BSP had won 31 of these 56 seats (53 before delimitation ) the last time , but is now struggling to keep its head above water since Muslims are looking favourably at Mulayam Singh Yadav’s SP and Brahmin votes are scattered all over the place .

In UP’s caste cauldron , where 2G, CWG scams and inflation too find mention as postscripts only , Mayawati’s headstart over others, thanks to her vote base of 22% dalits, has ensured that she is still in the fight . This is unlike the Congress , despite the spirited campaign by Rahul Gandhi , and the BJP which have been reduced to mere sidelights .

Led by the young Akhilesh Yadav , whose greatest contribution to the party has been to dispel the notion that the SP is a party of Yadav goons , the SP has maximum plusses to show in its kitty (apart from the 10% Yadav vote-bank ) and seems set to revive its lethal Muslim-Y adav support base and emerge as the single-largest party on March 6.

“Congress will definitely win some votes of Muslims mainly because of the announcement of 4.5% sub- quota , which is more realistic than Mulayam’s promised 18 %, but overall it is SP which is going to garner maximum votes from them ,’’ says Yaqub Yawar , who heads the Urdu department at Benares Hindu University . He adds that between the SP and BSP , Muslims have always voted for the contender because the ruling party has failed to keep its promises made to the community .

The BJP, which was quick to oppose 4.5% sub-quota for Muslims within the overall 27% reservation of OBC reservation pie to make inroads into OBC votes , seems unlikely to gain from its rigid stand .