The alliance between the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Janata Dal (Secular) or JDS formed for the first time in Karnataka this year may work more to the advantage of the former in the state.
The party, the BSP, may win one seat (Kollegal) in Chamarajanagar district in south Karnataka or suffer defeat by a narrow margin in the Assembly elections to be held on May 12.
It will provide some relief to the party that has suffered badly in remote Uttar Pradesh which was the party’s launching pad. In addition to the Lok Sabha and two Assembly elections, the party has put up a poor show in the Rajya Sabha elections in UP. Its lone candidate has lost despite support from its old enemy, the Samajwadi Party.
Seeing a chance, party supremo Mayawati had travelled all the way to the state and campaigned for two days last month. Her partymen are seeking elections from 17 other seats but her best bet is Kollegal.
There are quite a few reasons behind it. First, her candidate N. Mahesh was a runner-up in this constituency in 2013. He was defeated by the Congress with a narrow margin of 10,000 votes. The party had won this seat with a bigger margin in the previous polls. As far as voting percentage is concerned, the BSP had got 25 per cent of the valid votes.
Expectedly, the BSP has fielded the same candidate this year whose chance of winning is rated high in the party circles. He is equally popular in some other sections, youth particularly.
“The BSP candidate is holding number one position at present (three days before the polling). The fight here is triangular with the Congress and the BJP joining the battle”, tells Kumaraswamy, a young voter in the constituency.
The reason given by him is the support extended by the JDS. “The JDS is a major force in this region. It had won 24 seats in this belt. The party had not bagged as many seats in any other region”, he adds.
What should worry the BSP is that the BJP had not fought elections that year unitedly. The KJP which was formed after split had secured 22 per cent votes. It has been merged with the BJP which had got 12 per cent additional votes.
The BSP which has formed an alliance with the JDS in this state is not being supported by the Samajwadi Party like Uttar Pradesh. In UP, the two had joined hands to defeat the BJP in two by-elections and had succeeded in its plan. Both the Lok Sabha seats, Gorakhpur and Phulpur, were wrested by the SP from the BJP.
The SP has fielded more than 20 candidates in the state, fighting alone. It had won one seat, Channapatna, in the previous polls but the party’s successful candidate has switched over to the BJP.
The BSP is well placed in Kollegal but not in three other constituencies, Chamarajanagar, Hanur and Gundulpet in Chamarajanagar district. The BSP had faced a rough weather in all these constituencies. In Gundulpet, for instance, it had secured only four per cent votes in 2013.
The BJP which had not opened an account in the district in 2013 is likely to do well in all the three constituencies. The party’s better result hope is based on the recent visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and large crowd which had collected to listen to him in the district.
But it should cause more worries to the ruling Congress than the BSP or the JDS.
Hindusthan Samachar/ R. Narayan/ Shri Ram Shaw
