Wary of Chandrashekhar's rising stature, Mayawati changes tack to protect core vote bank

The rising stature of SC leader and Bheem Army president Chandrashekhar alias Ravan appears to have forced BSP supremo Mayawati to rejig her political strategy and focus on protecting her core vote bank in Uttar Pradesh.

Mayawati has adopted a two-pronged approach to counter the threat posed to her core vote bank by the young SC leader, who has been in the limelight lately following his arrest after CAA protest in Delhi and denial of permission to visit Hyderabad.

The BSP supremo has been trying hard to portray Chandrashekhar as a BJP 'agent' and cautioning her supporters not to ''fall prey'' to his 'machinations'.

Mayawati has also decided to 'promote' the SC leaders within the party organisation and appoint them on key posts, sources in the BSP said here.

''Mayawati hopes to counter Chandrashekhar through her twin strategies....she has been taking extra pains to drive home the message to the Dalits that there must not be any division in their votes else their political power will diminish'', said a senior BSP leader while speaking to DH.

The BSP supremo's wariness was evident clearly when she dubbed the Bheem Army president's arrest on several occasions as ''political drama'' intended to be in the limelight.

''He intentionally gets himself arrested just to be in the news,'' Mayawati had remarked after his arrest in Delhi recently.

Although Chandrashekhar had earlier offered to work with Mayawati, he decided to go solo and form his own separate political outfit after her rebuff.

Chandrashekhar had shot into limelight after he led protest rallies of the SC community in Saharanpur following the killing of two SC members allegedly by the 'thakurs' during a procession last year. He had been arrested and the BJP government in the state had slapped the National Security Act (NSA) on him.