LUCKNOW: Less than four months after he quit the BSP to join AIMIM, former Mubarakpur MLA Shah Alam aka Guddu Jamali on Sunday returned to Mayawati's party and managed to get a ticket to contest Lok Sabha bypoll from Azamgarh seat vacated by Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav.
The BSP chief, at the same time, reappointed her nephew Akash Anand as the party's national coordinator, a move that illustrated Mayawati's reliance on the young Dalit leader who is often being projected as her successor.
The two crucial decisions were taken by Mayawati at the party's organisational meeting in Lucknow on Sunday, just over a fortnight after her party suffered one of the most humiliating electoral defeats -- BSP could win just one seat in the recently concluded UP elections.
BSP's bewildering disappearance from UP's political canvas came amid aggressive positioning by the SP against the BJP which eventually returned to power under the leadership of CM Yogi Adityanath.
On Sunday, Mayawati went back to her drawing board to come back with a reaffirming strategy to consolidate the Muslims. "Muslim community is repenting giving it votes to the SP which could not stop the BJP from coming back to power. Now, the BSP needs to emerge as a key option for the Muslims," she told the party workers.
Mayawati's observation flagged her deft political programming to nudge Akhilesh who sought to marshall his party's strength in state politics. Akhilesh, who won from Karhal assembly seat, has been elected as legislative party leader, in what allows him to be the leader of opposition in the UP assembly. The return of Guddu Jamali to BSP was also a pointer to Mayawati's playing up the Muslim card in Azamgarh -- in what could lead to division of Muslim votes, much to the chagrin of SP.
Jamali, who won the Mubarakpur seat on BSP ticket in 2012 and 2017, left the party just ahead of UP polls over accusation of sexual harrassment of a woman employee in his company. He contested as AIMIM candidate this time but could muster just 16% votes. Jamali had contested against SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav in 2014 Lok Sabha elections from Azamgarh but finished third behind Mulayam and BJP's Ramakant Yadav. In 2019 Lok Sabha elections when BSP allied with SP, Akhilesh won from Azamgarh.
Mayawati also asked her cadres to take steps for pulling out Dalits, essentially the non-Jatav sub-castes, from underneath the overarching umbrella of `Hindutva' erected by the BJP. Maya's renewed assertion vis-a-vis Dalit comes against the backdrop of a sharp plunge in her party vote share from just over 22% in 2017 to 12% this time. Experts said that Mayawati had been left flustered by saffron dispensation's consistent outreach towards Dalits who have been one of the key beneficiaries of an array of public welfare schemes of the BJP government at the Centre and the state.
Maya slams BJP, RSS for 'spreading rumours'
BSP chief Mayawati slammed the BJP and the RSS for "spreading rumours" that she would be made President of India if her party cadre helps the saffron party win the UP polls. Claiming that her mentor and BSP founder Kanshiram had rejected such an offer in the past, Mayawati said that any such step would only lead to complete end of BSP.
