JOIN USEven as Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati asserted that her party's understanding with the Samajwadi Party (SP) will not be affected by the defeat in Rajya Sabha polls, the BJP sees enough reasons to conclude that their new-found bonhomie is bound to come unstuck.
Notwithstanding Mayawati's firm resolve that she will not allow the BJP's "design" to create a rift between the two parties to succeed, the saffron party strategists said Mayawati-Akhilesh Yadav pact was not finding acceptance among the SP's rank and file.
They say the very fact that Akhilesh Yadav could not assert his authority to ensure SP votes in full strength to the BSP nominee means that a SP-BSP tie does not go down well within the SP ranks, including the MLAs.
With a year left for the Lok Sabha elections, the central BJP leadership sees enough scope for negating further possibility of a durable pact between Mayawati and Akhilesh Yadav being put in place, a Union minister said.
Mayawati forgives
The BJP candidate for the ninth RS seat, Anil Agarwal, defeated the lone BSP candidate Bhim Rao Ambedkar. The BSP needed 19 additional votes to send its candidate to RS. Raja Bhaiyya, independent MLA from Kunda, who is backing the SP, refused his support. SP leader Naresh Aggarwal's move to crossover to the BJP on being denied RS nomination suited the saffron party's calculations.
Other BJP leaders pointed out that even Mayawati, who appeared to be willing to forgive Akhilesh Yadav this time, made it clear that the Samajwadi Party should have given the first preference votes to her nominee to strengthen their understanding. "If I had been in place of Akhilesh Yadav, I would have given first priority to BSP candidate rather than the SP candidate (Jaya Bachchan)," she told reporters in Lucknow on Saturday. Akhilesh Yadav nominated SP's Jaya Bachchan for the assured seat.
The BSP relied on support from the SP and the Congress for its candidate to win. BSP candidate Bhim Rao Ambedkar received 32 first preference votes, five short of 37 he needed. He lost out to BJP's Anil Agrawal in the second round of counting, BJP leaders said.
Maya eyes LS polls
Mayawati, however, continued to hint that the two parties could join hands for the Lok Sabha polls next year. "The closeness of SP and BSP is not going to change because of this Rajya Sabha result," she said at the press conference, much to the relief of Akhilesh Yadav.
BJP chief Amit Shah's aides said Mayawati might put up a brave face for some more time but is bound to do a rethink on her options.