'Brahmins, Muslims to find place in BSP list'

Nurturing dreams to make a strong comeback in Uttar Pradesh in the Lok Sabha polls, the BSP, which had drawn a blank in the 2014 general elections, is likely to revert to "social engineering".

The term 'social engineering' refers to an electoral equation that accommodates both Brahmins and Scheduled Castes (SC) as candidates.

The BSP would be contesting 38 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats in the state. A majority of the seats reserved for the party is in the Western region of the state, where Muslims are in a sizeable numbers.

According to BSP sources here, the party, which may come out with its list of candidates for 38 Lok Sabha seats in the state on Thursday, would be banking on the support of "brahmins, SCs and Muslims" in the forthcoming polls.

Of the 38 constituencies, ten are reserved seats.

Sources said the party may field around ten Brahmin candidate and en equal number of Muslims. "The objective is to dent the BJP vote bank, especially in the eastern UP region," a senior BSP leader told DH.

"Brahmins have supported us whenever we fielded strong candidates from the community," he said.

The leader said that social engineering had catapulted BSP supremo Mayawati to power in the state in 2007. It had also helped the party win 19 seats in the 2009 general elections.

However, in the 2012 Assembly polls, BSP's formula did not work and party lost power to the Samajwadi Party. In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the BSP failed to win even a single Lok Sabha seat in the "Modi wave".

In the 2017 Assembly polls in the state, Mayawati's party could win only 19 seats.