BSP wooing upper castes for votes

NEW DELHI: Apparently aware of the fact that BSP chief Mayawati's bold gambit of giving as many as 86 party tickets to Brahmins and fielding 38 Thakurs for the UP polls could well upset its calculations, BJP has accused the Dalit leader of "use-and-throw" politics.

In attempting to pin down BSP and its main rival, Samajwadi Party, as outfits with an essentially sectional appeal who only looked to woo upper castes to corner votes, BJP did betray a certain sense of anxiety.

The sharp attack on BSP was clearly aimed to ensure that upper caste consolidation — which BJP believes is happening — is not disrupted.

BJP is looking to argue that Mayawati's bonding with Brahmins is aimed at getting upper caste votes and not beyond.

BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu, who has been put in-charge of BJP's poll management in UP, said BSP only had apmaan (insults) for Brahmins earlier.

This has changed to sammaan (regard) only as far this serves BSP's purpose. BJP has good reasons to worry.

In the 2002 assembly polls, BSP very successfully fielded upper caste candidates who, with the backing of Mayawati's Dalit base, got a cutting edge.

Such was the resurgence of caste identities that Brahmins voted for BSP, driven almost totally by caste appeals.

BJP's poll campaign will begin on March 25, with former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and the party's chief ministerial candidate and former CM Kalyan Singh addressing a public meeting in Kanpur, senior party leader L K Advani addressing a rally with state leader Lalji Tandon in Agra and party chief Rajnath Singh and Kesri Nath Tripathi holding a rally in Jhansi.

This was decided at a meeting on Friday attended by Vajpayee, Advani and Rajnath Singh among others, where it was decided that nationalist and regional issues will be aggressively used for the campaign.

In its campaign, the party will attack the Congress-led UPA for its "minority appeasement" and handling of terrorism while being in power at the Centre, and the ruling SP in UP for its "communalism" in the state, Naidu said.

The BJP will raise vociferously issues such as law and order, corruption, casteism and prices in its electioneering.