Maya forges ahead of rivals

With less than a month for the first phase of polling in Uttar Pradesh, BSP supremo Mayawati has forged ahead of her political opponents as far as preparations for the Assembly elections are concerned.

While the BJP and the Congress are yet to declare their polls nominees and the list of the SP is caught in the family feud, the BSP has already announced its candidates for all the Assembly seats, barring two.

BSP nominees have also launched their election campaigns in their respective constituencies.

The party has decided to focus on the seats where Muslims and Dalits are in sizeable numbers as it feels the Dalit-Muslim combination can catapult it to power in the state.

“We think that the Muslims will support us in large numbers in view of the ongoing crisis in the Samajwadi Party,” said a senior BSP functionary on Thursday.

Apparently, keeping the SP “feud” in mind, Mayawati has fielded as many as 97 Muslim candidates this time. The party has fielded 88 Dalit nominees, followed by Brahmins, who numbered 74.

Mayawati has deployed her trusted lieutenants, former UP minister Naseemuddin Siddiqui and party general secretary Satish Chandra Mishra, to monitor and supervise the campaigning in the state.

While Siddiqui has been holding meetings in Muslim-dominated Assembly constituencies, Mishra was busy organising ‘bhaichara’ (brotherhood) meets in different parts of the state.