LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh government’s pampering of estranged Samajwadi Party leader Shivpal Yadav and Independent MLA Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias ‘Raja Bhaiyya’ makes it clear that the BJP plans to counter any Opposition unity by backing small outfits and individual leaders.
On October 12, the Yogi Adityanath government allotted Shivpal a sprawling bungalow vacated by former chief minister and BSP chief Mayawati. Next day, he was accorded VVIP ‘Z Plus’ security, much to the chagrin of even ruling alliance members. Similarly, Raja Bhaiyya is on way to get another palatial bungalow - probably the one vacated by SP chief Akhilesh Yadav.
Shivpal, the SP MLA from Jaswantnagar, has floated Samajwadi Secular Morcha after he fell out with his nephew and SP chief Akhilesh Yadav. He has given adequate representation to Yadavs and Muslims, the core SP support base. Aparna, wife of SP patriarch Mulayam’s younger son Prateek, has already expressed her eagerness to join the Morcha and contest in 2019. Interestingly, Shivpal has been reiterating his vow to take on the BJP head on in 2019 at every platform.
Some political observers assert the BJP is treading softly as it expects the Morcha and Raja Bhaiyya’s proposed Jansatta Party to dent vote bank of its rivals, particularly the SP. The BJP hopes the Morcha will hit the Samajwadi Party’s vote share in the Etawah-Kannauj-Etah-Mainpuri-Farukkhabad belt. Shivpal has announced that he will field candidates on all 80 Lok Sabha seats except against Mulayam.
Raja Bhaiyya’s party is expected to woo the Thakurs. The six-time MLA from Kunda holds influence in and around Pratapgarh Lok Sabha constituency. In the last Rajya Sabha elections, Raja Bhaiyya backed the BJP candidate as he fell apart from the SP after Akhilesh joined hands with Mayawati.
At the same time, there are political pundits who don’t subscribe to the BJP’s plan of hoping smaller players eat into vote share of strong adversaries. “Shivpal may not be effective at all, as a BJP ploy, in countering the Samajwadi Party which has Yadavs as its core voters. They will not drift anywhere,” political scientist Ashutosh Mishra says.
But some others differ. “He (Shivpal) has been Mulayam’s trusted poll and party manager. His political experience can’t be undermined. He enjoys equally good support base among Yadav and Muslims,” says senior political observer JP Shukla. “More than anything else, Shivpalji is seen as a martyr and a victim of Akhilesh’s injustice and his immature leadership,” says a senior SP leader.